Installing closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras across Delhi for strengthening women’s security was one of the key election promises on the back of which the Aam Aadmi Party won a historic mandate in 2015.
Three years after winning the election, the tender for 1.4 lakh night vision bullet cameras was floated on 27 January 2018. Two companies made a bid for the tender: Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), a public sector unit (PSU), and Larsen & Toubro (L&T). The lowest bidder, BEL, is set to be awarded the contract.
Ajay Maken’s Allegations
Before the first camera could be set up, Delhi Congress Chief Ajay Maken alleged irregularities in the project earlier this month. The document based on which Ajay Maken first alleged wrongdoing is a copy of the Minutes of the Meeting of the Expenditure and Finance Committee (EFC), a document available on the Delhi government’s website.
The EFC is one of the authorities in the hierarchy of administration that approves government expenditure on schemes. The minutes correctly indicate that the Cabinet’s approval was pending, and without the Cabinet’s approval, the project cannot be implemented.
Maken’s allegation of cost escalation is most misleading. The Delhi government had set aside Rs 130 crore for this project in 2015, but no tendering was done at the time. Subsequently, when the proposal was finalised and brought before the EFC, a total maximum expenditure of Rs 571 crore was proposed.
This included the estimates for 1.4 lakh cameras, their maintenance, SIM cards from telecom companies for wireless transmission, and that of electricity from local discoms.
Most importantly, this tender was for a rate contract, under which BEL proposed to install cameras at approximately Rs 4,000 per camera, which is a quarter of the market price for cameras with similar specs. The logic of a rate contract is that installation of cameras may be done under any untied fund, such as the MLA-LADS, paving the way for a decentralised process of installation.
Congress Should Question Centre, NOT AAP
Today, Ajay Maken has gone on to allege that the AAP government has attempted to provide financial benefit to a Chinese-owned private company, ‘Hikvision’. BEL is working with the said company ‘Hikvision’ for the installation, and therefore AAP has compromised national security. The Congress appears to be riding piggyback on the anti-Chinese paranoia.
But if it is a Central government agency that has chosen to work with the Chinese company in question, why is the AAP government being dragged into this? BEL has made CCTV installations in several public institutions across the country, including in Union Government offices.
Should we take Maken’s word and remove all BEL installations because, in his expert opinion, they might be compromised?
The more important question is: Should this not be a question posed to the Central government which controls BEL? Why is Maken making this about the AAP government? It is because the real purpose is to politically hurt the Arvind Kejriwal government by scuttling its CCTV project.
As if on cue, the day after the allegation was first made, Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Anil Baijal set up a committee to “recommend Standard Operating Procedure to address the issues of uniformity in installation as well as issues of privacy, security, feed-sharing, integration and optimum utilisation”, which is bureaucrat-ese for “cold storage”.
The question many have in mind is, how can the LG take an executive decision like this one without consulting the elected government? That’s because whenever the LG wants to obstruct the AAP government, he stretches the boundaries of his Constitutional mandate to include whatever it is he may want to decide on.
Installation of CCTV cameras is a mandate of public works, which is a transferred subject. The LG, who has control over law & order and police, has extrapolated this to mean that he has control over installation of surveillance cameras as well. This is not only illegal, it is bordering on the ridiculous.
This argument can be extrapolated to practically any infrastructure project that has a tangential link to the security of citizens. But Maken’s allegations served as the context for the LG’s patently mala fide action.
A History of Stonewalling Progress
Maken has a stellar record in aiding the LG in stonewalling AAP’s projects. His most detrimental intervention was in the temporary shut down of the Mohalla Clinic project.
The LG Outcome Report, presented by the elected government during the Budget session of the Delhi Assembly earlier this year, suggests a connivance between Maken and the LG office. After the first 100+ Mohalla Clinics were set up during 2015-16, the expansion of the scheme was being considered.
On 26 May 2017, the file for expansion of the Mohalla Clinic scheme was sent to the LG for approval. It was returned on 5 July 2017, claiming that the proposal could not be approved because the LG office had received complaints from Ajay Maken about alleged irregularities.
Even if Maken’s allegations were true, in the interest of the potential beneficiaries of a critically acclaimed public health project like Mohalla Clinics, the responsible step would have been to set up an inquiry into the allegations and allow the work on the expansion to continue.
It took a day-long protest by 40 AAP MLAs outside Raj Niwas that finally resulted in the proposal being granted final approval by the LG on 4 September 2017. It has been almost 11 months since the LG flagged the alleged irregularities, and no progress has been made in the inquiry.
This is despite the fact that the vigilance department of the Delhi government reports directly to the LG and not to the elected government.
This camaraderie between Maken and the LG office has been coming in the way of Delhi’s progress. At a time when the BJP government at the Centre is pulling out all the stops in its harassment of the AAP government, Delhi Congress’ Ajay Maken is partnering with the BJP in maligning AAP. What is unfortunate is that all of this politicking is at the cost of the enhancement of women’s security that the Delhi government is trying to achieve.
(Akshay Marathe is National Joint Secretary of the Aam Aadmi Party, and works on education policy with the Delhi government. He tweets @AkshayMarathe. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
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