Cong alleges scam in CCTV camera project, says AAP govt compromised national security

The AAP government has "compromised national security" by giving the contract of installing 1.5 lakh CCTV cameras in the national capital to a Chinese company, Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken alleged today and demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Maken also claimed that the Chinese government-run Hikvision was included in the vendor list of the Defence Ministry's firm Bharat Electronics (BEL) which was "dangerous" for security of the country.

"Our direct allegation is that due to petty corruption, the Arvind Kejriwal government compromised with national security by giving contract for installing 1.5 lakh CCTV cameras in Delhi to Hikvision, which is a Chinese central government company," Maken told a press conference.

He also presented a purported transcript of a conversation involving a Delhi Congress leader and an official of Prama Hikvision India Pvt. Ltd., Chandra Shekhar, in which the latter accepted getting the order from the Delhi government's Public Works Department (PWD) for installing CCTV cameras in the national capital.

When contacted, Chandra Shekhar said, "We are a subsidiary of Hikvision in India. I do not have any idea about the role of the Chinese government involving Hikvision. We have been doing business with various government departments for the past 10 years and we have not faced any such problem before. Now we are also manufacturing here as part of 'Make In India'." Chandra Shekhar is the branch manager of Prama Hikvision India Pvt. Ltd. in Delhi-NCR.

Maken alleged that the first tender for the installation of CCTV cameras was floated in November 2017 but was rejected by the government and a second tender was floated in January 2018 to help the company bag the contract.

"The AAP dispensation is claiming that the contract for CCTV camera installation has been given to public sector unit BEL. But, the first tender was rejected because Hikvision was not in the vendor list of BEL. Later on BEL list was updated in fourth quarter of 2017-18 and Prama Hikvision India Pvt. Ltd. was included in it along with other vendors," he said.

Maken also alleged that two officials of Hikvision had attended a PWD meeting on February 6 this year, along with a BEL official, for examining of technical-cum-commercial bid for the project.

Maken alleged that the AAP government was involved in a "Rs 571-crore CCTV camera scam" and added that "kickbacks" were paid.

"We question Kejriwal and PWD Minister Satyendar Jain as to how much kickbacks have been paid. Kejriwal should resign by Sunday otherwise Congress will stage a massive protest outside his residence on the day. We will also seek probe by the CVC and the CBI, besides exploring legal option," he said.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention in execution of the Delhi government's CCTV project, two days after Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal constituted a committee to prepare framework for the installation of CCTV cameras.

Kejriwal sought an appointment with Modi and requested him to order Baijal to allow the installation of CCTV cameras as it is related to women safety and hence, there should be no politics over this.