In July 2025, Harshal Patil, a government contractor from Walva in Sangli district, killed himself. He had completed work allotted to him under the Jal Jeevan Mission, but was yet to receive over Rs1 crore in pending payments from the government.
Two months later, in September, P.V. Verma alias Munna, a contractor from Nagpur, killed himself at his home in Raj Nagar. No suicide note was found, but close associates told the media that the government had not cleared his pending bills.
Contractors’ associations claim that the Maharashtra government owes over Rs86,000 crore to contractors across departments. The mounting dues recently triggered an agitation in Mumbai, with contractors demanding that their bills be cleared.
Among those who travelled to Mumbai were Akash Ghonge and Ritesh Nagre of Buldana. As business partners, they undertake road, bridge and drainage projects for the zilla parishad and Public Works Department. “We have not been paid Rs3 crore that is due to us. We have been pleading with government authorities. Our money has been pending for the last two to three years,” Ghonge and Nagre told THE WEEK.
Shashi Avhad, a contractor from Nashik who undertakes projects for the zilla parishad and the tribal development department, said the government owed him more than Rs4 crore. He has been waiting to get his bills cleared for over two years. “Earlier the government used to clear bills serially. Now that is not happening. Only contractors who are close to the ministers are getting their bills cleared on priority,” he said.
Senior legislator and NCP(SP) leader Rohit Pawar said the government was favouring contractors from outside Maharashtra. “They give malida (cut), so their bills are immediately cleared. A contractor from Jalgaon told me that his bills have been pending for the last eight years,” Pawar said.
According to Pawar, PWD has pending contractor payments of around Rs17,500 crore, the tribal development department Rs9,881 crore, the water supply department Rs40,000 crore, tourism Rs1,100 crore and other departments more than Rs10,000 crore. He alleged that out-of-state companies such as Navayuga Engineering Company Ltd, which undertook the Mumbai-Pune Expressway missing-link project, received prompt payments.
He also alleged that companies like Megha Engineering had secured infrastructure projects worth thousands of crores and that the creation of the Maharashtra State Infrastructure Development Corporation (MSIDC), along with the way projects were structured, had made it difficult for local contractors to compete. “This is how cartelling takes place,” he said.
According to Pawar, a penalty imposed on Megha Engineering was reduced from Rs90 crore to Rs9 lakh. Works in Nashik were allegedly awarded to contractors from Gujarat with the involvement of relatives and associates of a guardian minister.
He also questioned the economics of the proposed Shaktipeeth highway, which is facing opposition from farmers. “[Union Minister] Nitin Gadkari saheb built an eight-lane highway in Uttar Pradesh at Rs45 crore per kilometre, while the Shaktipeeth highway is a six-lane highway being built at Rs90 crore per kilometre,” he said. The total project cost, he said, would be close to Rs1.4 lakh crore.
“Farmers do not want this project,” Pawar said. “Why doesn’t the government cancel it and use the money to clear pending bills of contractors. If the bill payments are made, nearly one crore Marathi people will survive and be happy.”
He also pointed to the escalation in the estimated cost of the proposed Bandra-Versova sea link, which he said had risen from Rs11,332 crore to Rs18,120 crore. “This cost escalation of nearly Rs7,000 crore could cover the bills of contractors under the tribal development department. Like the Ladki Bahin scheme of the [Eknath] Shinde government, this government seems to have launched a ‘Ladka Contractor’ (favourite contractor) scheme,” he said.
Pawar said the agitation extended well beyond the contractors themselves. The labourers they employ and suppliers from whom they source materials are also dependent on timely payments. “The money is their right,” he said. “Contractors and labourers must come forward in large numbers; then the opposition can effectively help them.”
Maharashtra is already a red zone when it comes to farmer suicides. After Patil’s death in Sangli, former finance minister and senior NCP(SP) leader Jayant Patil warned that, just as there are farmer suicides, the state could witness a series of contractor suicides if the issue was not resolved. “The government must immediately find a solution,” he said.
More than a year later, contractors said the problems remain unresolved. On August 25, a PWD contractor named Gajubhau Devkate killed himself at his residence in Navi Mumbai over unpaid bills amounting to Rs2 crore.
Milind Bhosale, president of the association of contractors working under the Jal Jeevan Mission, said nearly 15,000 contractors had undertaken projects under the scheme in Maharashtra. “The government owes them Rs34,000 crore,” he said. “I am visiting the Mantralaya to take up the issue.” Bhosale also estimated that the total number of contractors in Maharashtra could be more than one lakh.
Kisan Pansare, vice president of state contractors’ association, said he himself was awaiting Rs8-10 crore in government dues. “Forget my case. In the 2023 budget, the government had sanctioned works worth Rs12,000 crore under the tribal development department. Of that, only Rs1,600 crore has been paid so far. “The minister just does not seem to be interested in taking up our issues,” Pansare said.
According to Pansare, the problem dates back to Shinde becoming chief minister in 2022. “What Shinde saheb did was sanction a lot of development work in the constituencies of legislators supporting him in order to keep them happy. Contractors were accordingly given contracts and completed the projects. But later, it was realised that there was not enough money to make the payments,” he said.
Pansare said the association had collected details of pending dues amounting to Rs86,000 crore, although the exercise was still incomplete. “Some figures are still not available. We are in the process of collecting them. Taken together, it could touch Rs1 lakh crore,” he said.
Maharashtra PWD Minister Shivendrasinh Raje Bhonsle told THE WEEK that his department had pending payments of around Rs17,000 crore, for which budgetary provision has been made. The figure of Rs86,000 crore, he said, was for all departments, not just PWD. “We have also started TREDS (Trade Receivables Electronic Discounting System) for small contractors,” Bhonsle said, adding that payments would be routed directly through the system.
Ashish Jaiswal, minister of state for finance, said the government was addressing the issue. “We are clearing payments and not announcing any new work,” he said. “It is not the first time that contractors have pending dues; it has happened under earlier governments as well.”
