Mumbai, Jul 23 (PTI) Senior NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil on Wednesday claimed a young contractor has committed suicide in Maharashtra’s Sangli district due to corruption, harassment by government authorities, and delay in receiving payments for work done under the Jal Jeevan Mission.
The former state finance minister identified the deceased contractor as Harshal Patil, an engineer and resident of Walwa taluka in Sangli, the home district of Jayant Patil.
“This is an extremely tragic incident,” the opposition party MLA said in a post on X.
The eight-term MLA from Islampur (now named Ishwarpur) in Sangli district opined that tired of the government’s false promises of providing meaningful employment, children of ordinary farmers are now turning to contracting.
“The government has hurt the dreams of youths who were striving to build their own world through hard work. The state government, in order to win elections, distributed various contracts despite having no funds in the treasury,” Jayant Patil maintained.
Now, contractors across the state are pleading and protesting at the government’s doorsteps to receive their pending payments, he said.
“This is not the situation of just one department but of all departments. The government seems to have no regard for the fact that a contractor does not support just one household but also the families of many workers who depend on him,” the NCP (SP) leader pointed out.
Maharashtra is already grappling with farmer suicides and contractors facing harassment and delay in payment from government authorities may be forced to take the same step, he cautioned.
“Just as there are farmer suicides, I fear a series of contractor suicides may begin. The government must immediately find a solution to this situation,” the former minister insisted.
The state Congress also hit out at the BJP-led Mahayuti government over the contractor’s suicide.
“This is not suicide, it is nothing less than murder by the government,” said the Congress in a statement.
The dream of ‘Har Ghar Jal’ under the Jal Jeevan Mission has taken the life of a young contractor, an engineer and a hardworking entrepreneur who fell victim to the deceptive promises of the Fadnavis government, the party said.
“The government has no money to pay the contractors. So should young contractors die due to the failure of the government?” it asked.
A bill of Rs 1.4 crore for works done under the Jal Jeevan Mission was pending and the contractor had taken a loan of Rs 65 lakh to complete the tasks under the government-run scheme, the Congress claimed.
Due to the BJP’s “misgovernance” an entire family has been destroyed, it alleged.
“Choosing the path of suicide was not Harshal’s failure, but the blood-soaked success of the BJP government’s lifeless administration. The responsibility for his death cannot be evaded by the government,” the Congress said, hitting out at the ruling coalition.
“This government is not bringing ‘development,’ but ‘destruction’ of Maharashtra and that too at the cost of the souls of educated youth. The time has come to stand up against this corrupt, callous regime,” the statement posted on X said. PTI MR RSY
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