As per claims made by Congress Delhi unit chief Ajay Maken, Kejriwal approved the contract for 1.5 Lakh CCTV cameras worth Rs 574 crores.

In a big charge against Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, the Congress party on Friday alleged that the Delhi Chief Minister had given approval to made-in-China CCTV cameras, therefore putting national security at stake. As per claims made by Congress Delhi unit chief Ajay Maken, Kejriwal approved the contract for 1.5 Lakh CCTV cameras worth Rs 574 crore.

Speaking to the media in the national capital, Maken said that while the Delhi government wanted to give the tender to a Chinese company, AAP leaders maintained that the tender was being given to a PSU. “AAP leaders and Delhi government ministers wilfully flouted norms,” Maken said. Showing some documents, Maken said all regulations were flouted when the tenders for CCTVs were given.

Maken also demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. He 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 was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

He also showed to the media a transcript of a conversation between a Delhi Congress leader and an official of Prama Hikvision India Pvt. Ltd.

In the conversation, the official, Chandra Shekhar, accepted that he received an order from the Delhi government’s Public Works Department (PWD) for installing CCTV cameras in the national capital.

Speaking to PTI, Chandra Shekhar said that the company is 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’,” he was quoted as saying.

Maken said that first tender for the installation of CCTV cameras was floated in November 2017, however, the government rejected it. A second tender was floated in January 2018 to help the company bag the contract, he said.