Delhi Congress alleges corruption in CCTV project, AAP dismisses it

Delhi Congress President Ajay Maken today alleged corruption in the city government's CCTV project and accused the AAP dispensation of trying to hush up a "scam" by blaming Lt Governor Anil Baijal for the delay in approval.

The ruling AAP dismissed Maken's remarks as "frivolous" and accused the Delhi Congress of acting as the "B team" of the BJP.

Speaking to reporters, Maken raised questions on the rise in cost of the project and the "dilution" of tender conditions.

"When the CCTV project was given approval by cabinet in 2015, it just cost Rs 130 crore. This has been spiked to Rs 571.40 crore. Now, the minutes of Expenditure Finance Committee meeting, which is chaired by Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, say even before the project was approved by the competent authority, request for proposal (RFP) was invited and tenders were finalised by PWD," he said.

Maken also alleged that the AAP government was evading scrutiny in the project by "planting stories attributing the delay to LG Anil Baijal approval".

"The Kejriwal government is trying to hide all its negatives under the carpet by harping on the LG sitting on approvals. Now, it is trying to hush up a scam," he said.

"In November 2017, the first tenders were issues and there were two companies who participated. Though one company won the bid, it was rejected and in January 2018, fresh tenders were issued after diluting the conditions. We want to know what are those conditions that has been diluted," Maken said, adding that tender documents pertaining to the project alone were "missing" from the government website.

Referring to the minutes of First Expenditure Finance Committee meeting, Maken alleged, "Out of the entire project cost (Rs 571.40 crore) - 44 per cent of the funds have been channelised for maintenance. EFC minutes says that a detailed procedure for maintenance shall be chartered out, but it is yet to be done. When there are things pending, how was the tender given to a company for maintenance?"
AAP Spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj in a series of tweets said, "Maken ji, I just fail to understand that CCTV tender has been won by lowest bidder which is a Central Govt PSU called BEL. Now how will any tender conditions lead to corruption?"