A Lingayat seer in Karnataka on Monday accused the Karnataka government of taking a commission to release funds meant for the welfare and development of mutts, The Indian Express reported. A mutt is a religious order of saints.

Dingaleshwara Swami of the Balehosur Mutt alleged that the amount reaches them after a 30% deduction.

“The corruption has reached this level,” Swami said during an event in Bagalkot district, according to The Indian Express. “The officials say that they [funds] cannot be released until the commission is paid.”

He also alleged that several contractors in the state have stopped their work since the government has demanded a commission, PTI reported.

“There is a pathetic situation of paying 30% commission,” Swami said. “The work starts only after paying 30%. Many contractors have stopped their work. There are only talks but no development is happening. Many MLAs fix the rate first before starting the work.”

He also claimed that government services in northern Karnataka were in a bad shape. “Roads, bus services, education, schools are in bad shape,” he said. “There is shortage of teachers here. Irrigation works are pathetic.”

The seer’s allegations come days after Karnataka minister KS Eshwarappa was booked for abetting the suicide of a contractor, who had accused him of corruption.

Santosh Patil, a Belagavi-based contractor, had alleged that Eshwarappa had demanded a 40% commission to clear his Rs 4 crore bill for the work that he had done for the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department. In a WhatsApp message purportedly sent by him to his friends, Patil had named Eshwarappa as the “sole cause” of his death.

On Monday, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai said that his government would look into the seer’s allegations, NDTV reported.

“He is a great Swamiji,” Bommai said. “He is well known in the state. I only request his holiness to furnish the proof of whom the commission was paid to, for what purpose he has paid, and to whom he has paid.”

The Lingayat community forms about 17% of the state’s population and is considered to be the Bharatiya Janata Party’s main vote bank.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Siddaramaiah said that it was not right for the Karnataka government to demand commissions.

“It is a matter of shame that the BJP, which calls itself as a saviour of dharma [righteousness], is eating 30% commission into the grants sanctioned for monasteries and temples,” he wrote in a tweet. “How is your ‘Dharma Rakshana’ [protection of righteousness] when you take a commission from God?”