India, April 4 -- The state owes around 3 lakh contractors working on government projects Rs.96,000 crore in outstanding dues. Now contractors have threatened to stop work if the authorities fail to start clearing pending bills.

Dues have been mounting because the government has held back payments amid a cash crunch due to its expenditure on populist schemes and shortfall in revenue collection.

Following protests by contractors over pending bills last year, the government cleared dues amounting to Rs.20,000 crore. With no further payments, the outstanding sum has only climbed.

With the financial year ending on March 31, and no arrears being cleared, the Maharashtra State Contractors' Association, the state-level body of contractors inv...