Karnataka Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Eshwar B Khandre has directed officials to blacklist Larsen & Toubro (L&T) after the company failed to advance a drinking-water project intended to serve 388 rural habitations in Dharwad district, along with villages in Kalghatgi and Saundatti.
Khandre issued the direction during a Jal Jeevan Mission review meeting at Vikas Soudha on Wednesday, after officials reported that the project had made little progress despite a final notice to the contractor. The scheme is designed to supply water to habitations in Dharwad and Belagavi districts and to Kalghatgi town from the Renukasagar reservoir.
According to officials, L&T had not begun purchasing the required water pipelines, had failed to deploy adequate manpower and was executing the work at a very slow pace. The company had also not been submitting progress reports, the minister was informed.
Khandre said he had previously met contractors and departmental officials at the department’s commissionerate on September 11 and directed them to accelerate pending works and submit weekly progress reports. He said L&T had failed to improve its pace of execution despite those instructions, leading him to direct officials to initiate blacklisting action.
The minister also took up delays affecting other contractors working on multi-village drinking-water projects across Karnataka. Officials were asked to issue final notices to agencies that had failed to meet their deadlines. Khandre said delays would not be accepted except in cases involving pending forest clearance.
The project’s intended beneficiaries include rural communities that depend on planned public water infrastructure rather than local or seasonal sources. Khandre said delays could defeat the purpose of the schemes, particularly as several parts of Karnataka were facing drinking-water shortages because of inadequate rainfall.
The review meeting brought together Rural Development and Panchayat Raj department Principal Secretary Pankaj Kumar Pandey, Secretary D Randeep, Commissioner Fouzia Tarannum B, Venkataraju, Chief Executive Officer Rahul Shinde and other officials. The department’s next steps, as stated at the meeting, are to proceed against L&T and issue final notices to other agencies that have failed to meet project deadlines.
