Navi Mumbai contractor dies by suicide over ‘ ₹2-crore dues’ from government

The deceased from Ulwe was taken by his family to the sub-district hospital in Panvel, where doctors declared him dead on arrival at 5.05 pm.

A 37-year-old government contractor died by suicide at his Ulwe residence on Tuesday amid claims that bills amounting to around ₹2 crore remained unpaid, bringing to light the wider payment crisis faced by contractors in Maharashtra.

The state government owes dues of over ₹86,000 crore to contractors over the last two-and-a-half years (PTI)

The state government owes dues of over ₹86,000 crore to contractors over the last two-and-a-half years—a reality that spurred a two-day protest by contractors across the state at Azad Maidan last week.

The deceased from Ulwe was taken by his family to the sub-district hospital in Panvel, where doctors declared him dead on arrival at 5.05 pm, said senior police inspector Arjun Rajane of Ulwe police station, adding that his wife had alerted the cops about the incident.

While no suicide note was recovered from his house, a letter he had sent to Vidyadhar Pataskar, executive engineer, Mumbai city division, last year revealed the challenges he was facing to have his payments cleared. Describing himself as a “small-time contractor” whose livelihood depended on government work, he wrote in the letter, “Small contractors have to visit officials 10 times to get work and, even after completing the work, make another 10 visits to clear their bills.”

Following the incident, the Maharashtra State Contractors Association (MSCA) has accused the state government and officials of mistreating its members. In July 2025, a young contractor from Sangli died by suicide as his dues of ₹1.40 crore were not cleared for tasks completed for the Jal Jeevan Mission. In September yet another contractor from Nagpur died for similar reasons.

In a letter to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and minister of Public Works Department (PWD) Shivendra Raje Bhosale, the association has alleged that the contractor from Navi Mumbai died by suicide due to financial distress caused by pending dues from the PWD, Mumbai circle. “He had repeatedly written to the concerned executive engineer seeking clearance of his pending bills, but faced humiliation and severe financial and mental harassment by officials,” stated the letter. The body has demanded legal and departmental action against officials found responsible in the case and sought a written order on the matter within eight days.

Several contractor bodies from across the state have been complaining about mounting dues from various government departments, over the last two years, insisting that the crisis has intensified since the Mahayuti government announced freebies such as the Ladki Bahin scheme, distributing free power to farmers etc which have put a financial burden of over ₹60,000 crore on the exchequer and resulted in shortage of funds for development works.

Milind Bhosale, president of MSCA alleged, “The government has a debt of ₹86,000 towards contractors. This has put contractors in financial distress, leading to some of them taking their own lives. The government needs to being a mechanism to clear the dues immediately.”

Bhosale also pointed out that the annual budget of PWD is around ₹18,000 crore but before assembly elections in 2024, the department had issued works of over ₹40,000. “If one adds up the spends of all the departments before the assembly elections, the amount would be over ₹1 lakh crore,” he said.

“They issued work orders beyond their budget, which has intensified the crisis. Now, in last one-and-a-half years, the state government has stopped undertaking projects. However, on the other hand, it is announcing big ticket projects with the help of financial agencies – in June 2026 the state cabinet approved road projects worth more than ₹31,000 crore, including plans to improve around 1,500 km of major roads and up to 6,000 km of rural roads with financial assistance from international lending agencies. But they don’t have money to pay small-medium size contractors,” said Bhosale, who at a press conference held at the Maharashtra State Contractors Association on August 24, warned of further protests if the dues were not cleared.

Ramesh Bhojkar, a contractor from Kolhapur, appealed to contractors not to take drastic steps, however dire the situation. “Suicide is not the answer. Our main task is to fight the system that has forced us into this situation and recover the money owed to us,” he said.

Calls and messages to the PWD minister and his secretary Abasaheb Nagargoje for a comment on this issue remained unanswered.