Kolhapur: A 35-year-old govt contractor from a Sangli village, who was allegedly under immense financial duress over pending payments for projects, was found dead at his farm on Wednesday. A family member told police that govt owed him Rs 1.4 crore in dues and he had also incurred debt of Rs 65 lakh from banks and private lenders. The contractor, Harshal Patil of Tandulwadi village in Sangli’s Islampur taluka, was said to have worked on pipe laying and tank construction projects of Jal Jeevan Mission, a rural water supply scheme. Sangli ZP chief executive officer Trupti Dhodmise, however, told TOI, “He was not registered with us. Some big contractor may have leased out works to him, which we need to find out.”According to the family, Patil left home at 7pm on Tuesday. When he did not return, his relatives went looking for him in Satara and Pune. They also registered a missing person complaint. The next afternoon, they found him dead at the farm. Patil is survived by his wife, parents, two younger brothers and a four-year-old daughter. His family was financially dependent on him. Assistant police inspector Vikram Patil said, “We have not found any suicide note. We are, however, getting the statements of the relatives. We have registered the death as a suicide.” Many contractors across the state are awaiting govt bill payments. Contractors had held a statewide strike on July 4 demanding immediate clearance of dues. Since Jan, contractors have held at least five protests in different districts. Milind Bhosale, state president of the contractors’ association, said he has written at least 25 letters to govt to hold a meeting over Rs 90,000 crore dues. “Govt’s Jal Jeevan Mission department alone has pending bills of Rs 12,000 crore. PWD also has Rs 46,000 crore dues. In March, we met PWD minister Shivendraraje Bhosale. There are pending bills of Rs 8,500 crore with the rural department and Rs 20,000 crore with the water resources department. We met [water resources minister] Girish Mahajan, who assured us of a meeting with CM Devendra Fadnavis during the assembly session, but the session has ended and there is no word from govt’s side yet.”
