Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national spokesman K. Pattabhi Ram said the State government owed a staggering ₹30,000 crore to contractors who executed various projects, and was writing to some of the contractors close to YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) leaders with ‘guarantees’ that they would be paid on certain dates in the future notwithstanding the likelihood of a regime change in about four months.
Addressing reporters at the State party office on Sunday, Mr. Pattabhi Ram said several contractors suspended their works due to the pendency of bills, but Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was unmoved by their plight and the resultant adverse impact on development, which was desperately needed post-bifurcation.
The hapless contractors took to the streets, but to no avail and some of them even ended their lives due to the financial mess into which they were pushed.
He asserted that the said guarantee letters were against all norms and were being given to only a few contractors whose track record was poor because they were close to the ruling party leaders, who were calling the shots.
Mr. Pattabhi Ram said what was strange about the guarantee letters was the commitment given in them to make the payments in the next financial year when the YSRCP could retain power or even be swept away by the perceived anti - incumbency wave. It was to be noted that the existing government’s current year budget had legislative sanction only up to March 31, 2024.
