Govt awarding projects to non-K'taka contractors for huge cuts, says HDK

JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy on Tuesday charged the state government with awarding various projects to contractors from outside the state, for a commission.

Kumaraswamy's remarks comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "10% sarkar" charge against the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government.  

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Kumaraswamy attacked the government for depriving local contractors of works, in its greed to get a cut in the projects.

Kumaraswamy dared Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his Cabinet colleagues
M B Patil and H C Mahadevappa to announce the number of projects awarded to "Kannadigas".

Citing the example of the Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout in Bengaluru, Kumaraswamy said the government had ordered works of the layout formation to the "same" company which had bid for the controversial steel bridge project.

Charging that the government was spending Rs 38 crore to lay 1-km road, he wondered if these roads were getting gold or silver coating.

The government has recently awarded the Kempegowda Layout works to Larson&Tubro Construction, the same company which had bagged the steel bridge project in a joint venture with Nagarjuna Construction Company Ltd.

After facing stiff opposition, the government had later dropped the project.

Kumaraswamy said that the previous BJP government too had demanded cuts in projects. "The only difference is that the percentage amount has increased under this government," he added.