The Karnataka Rashtra Samiti (KRS) party on Friday alleged a Rs 50 crore scam in the Labour Department’s programme to distribute toolkits, and demanded the resignation of minister Shivaram Hebbar.
The Karnataka Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board, under the Labour Department, has disturbed toolkits to labourers in six trades, including painters, carpenters, electricians, plumbers and bar benders.
The party on Friday brought the two toolkits distributed to carpenters and labourers to expose the dubious quality of the tools, none of which had an ISI mark. While the drilling machine, crucial for carpenters, came with no details of the company, even the minor tools like carpentry chisel turned out to be made of low-grade steel.
The party termed the painting toolkit a cruel joke on the labourers as it alleged that the compressor, hand spray, and scrapping blades would not survive a single use.
Documents showed that the labour department has paid Rs 3,690 per toolkit. The KRS bought tools of better quality in the open market, which cost Rs 2,265, including the GST of Rs 344.
KRS general secretary C N Deepak said the party has managed to get documents for two toolkits distributed in five districts of Bengaluru Rural, Bengaluru Urban, Mandya, Mysuru and Chamarajanagar, which puts the scam amount at about Rs 8 to 10 crore.
“If one calculates the toolkits for other trades and the number of kits distributed across the remaining districts, it’s a Rs 50 crore scam. Labour minister Shivaram Hebbar should be sacked if he is found to be involved in the scam. If he is not involved, the scam shows his inefficiency and he should resign,” he demanded.
