There has been a rash of suicides in Maharashtra below the national radar—suicides by government-registered contractors over non-payment of their dues for years. Since July 2025, the toll has touched nine. The latest victim was Sunil Wagdare, who took his life last week. Associations of contractors assert that there might have been more suicides; they claim that neither Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis nor his deputies Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar have bothered to respond to their pleas, hunger strikes, road blockades, and other protest tactics to release outstanding payments. The pending amounts range from Rs 1.4 crore and Rs 2 crore to Rs 30 and Rs 40 crore. These are tiny sums for a state government commanding one of the largest project contract markets in India and writing a capital expenditure outlay of Rs 93,165 crore in FY 2025-26.
A Widening Gap In Governance
However, it is not about value alone but the unforgiving chasm that exists—and, by all accounts, is widening—between the government’s claims of good governance and the harsh reality on the ground, except in a few cases where contractors have political connections. From competitive examinations to farmers’ distress and urban chaos, the government has come in for fair criticism lately. The recent instance is the examination paper leaks in the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC), which saw thousands of students protest for 10-11 days in Pune, leading to the suspension of the MPSC chairperson and the setting up of a high-level investigation committee. The protest was triggered by the death by suicide of an aspirant, Prathamesh Dilip Deshmukh, who faced mounting debts and stress over examination irregularities.
Clear Pending Dues Without Delay
The contractors preferring death by suicide, like students who did the same, should have woken up the Fadnavis government to the chasm it has allowed to prevail and widen. If there are genuine issues of roadblocks and tender clauses in the pending payments, they must be addressed without delay at every level of the government. That the steel frame of bureaucracy bends to political will is well known. If the government, at the topmost level, makes it a priority to clear payments of all pending dues up to a certain amount and follows up on that from the offices of the Chief Minister or deputy Chief Ministers, the administration will fall into line.
Delays Threaten Investment Goals
The state budget for FY 2025-26 had announced a new industrial policy to attract Rs 40 lakh crore worth of investments. The nuts and bolts of its implementation have been, and will be, done by hundreds of contractors like Wagdare. The repercussions of endlessly delaying or not honouring payments and not even listening to grievances regarding them could prove disastrous for the state in the long run. No one should have to die to have his voice heard.
