Terming Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government's project to install CCTV cameras in Delhi was a big scam, Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken on Monday alleged that the Kejriwal Government has made its quarrels with the lieutenant Governor to cover up this scam. However, the ruling party dismissed Maken's remarks as “frivolous” and accused the Delhi Congress of acting as the “B team” of the BJP.
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 the 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 Public Works Department,” 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 l-G 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 those conditions that have been diluted are,” 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 that out of the entire project cost (Rs 571.40 crore) - 44 per cent of the funds have been channelised for maintenance. EFC minutes say 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 maintenanceIJ”
Replying to Maken's charges, 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 a Central Govt PSU is called BEl. Now how will any tender conditions lead to corruptionIJ”
In another tweet, Bharadwaj said, “Whenever AAP Govt is working towards public welfare scheme, BJP will create hurdles through IAS officers and l-G. After the l-G has exhausted all delay tactics, Mr Ajay Maken will jump with some frivolous complaints. It's their modus operandi. Delhi Congress is team B of BJP.”