India, Nov. 11 -- With local body elections around the corner, the state government has begun to clear dues owed to contractors executing government schemes across the state. The dues amount to a whopping Rs.89,000 crore, and holding back payments any longer would risk protests and disruption in development work that could spell trouble for the Mahayuti government in the upcoming polls. The government has thus begun to release payments, amounting to around Rs.10,000 crore.

Recently, slain hostage taker Rohit Aarrya had claimed the state education department owed him over Rs.2 crore. However, the government maintains that Aarrya's claim was baseless. The department had floated a scheme called Mukhyamantri Majhi Shala Sundar Shala with an ...