Patna, March 2 (IANS): The Nitish Kumar government's clean image has suffered a jolt after senior RJD leader Bhai Virendra on Wednesday alleged that more than 1,800 contractors associated with the rural development projects did not make GST payment to the government.

"The Ministry of Rural Development has paid full amount of the projects to contractors without deducting GST. The top officials including engineers of the department have passed the bill and sanctioned the payment to contractors. We have learnt that 1,832 contractors have benefited from this scam," Bhai Virendra said.

"I believe that these contractors have duped the government of crores of rupees in connivance with top officials and the related minister of the department. It needs thorough investigation to find out the nexus between contractors, officials and the minister," he said.

Reacting to it, Jayant Raj, the Rural Development Minister informed the House that he is directing the officials to look into it.

The opposition leaders were not satisfied with the Minister's reply and created a huge uproar inside the assembly.

Following that, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary intervened and ensured that a fair investigation will be done in a time bound manner to find out the lapses.

"In case of GST being not paid by the contractors, our government will force them to pay the same to the department," Chaudhary said.