Mumbai, July 29 -- Less than a week after a young contractor in Sangli district died by suicide over pending dues from the government, the Maharashtra State Contractors' Association on Monday urged the state government to disburse funds for pending bills equally among all contractors to safeguard small contractors. "After so much delay, when the state government will release some funds, big contractors who are hand in glove with government officials will try to get a big share. To avoid injustice with small contractors, there should be equal disbursement of funds to contractors from all categories," Milind Bhosale, president of the Maharashtra State Contractors' Association stated in the letter sent to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, deputy chief ministers Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde and the chief secretary of the state government. The dues of contractors working for various government schemes and projects have mounted to Rs.90,000 crore over the past year, including dues worth Rs.46,000 crore from the Public Works Department (PWD) and Rs.12,000 crore from the Jal Jeevan Mission. On July 23, a 35-year-old contractor from Walva tehsil in Sangli district working for the state government's Jal Jeevan Mission died by suicide over pending bills worth Rs.1.40 crore, which placed him under a Rs.65-lakh debt burden. Bhosale, in his letter, referred to the distress, especially among small contractors, and said the association had been protesting over the dues for over a year. To avoid injustice with small contractors, funds should be disbursed as per the previous policy of distribution of work, in the ratio of 33:34:33 to educated unemployed engineers, open contractors and labor organisations, he said in the letter....