Sources said a minor altercation took place between transport dept officials and CM on July 10
While the Delhi government is planning to install more CCTV cameras in the Capital, in another decision, it has decided to stop the monitoring of all Cabinet meetings to be held from the coming week. The decision to uninstall the CCTV cameras was taken on July 11 after the last Cabinet meeting.
“We have received a Cabinet note regarding the decision,” said a senior Delhi government official confirming the development.
According to the sources, a minor altercation took place between the transport department officials and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on July 10. The argument started when Kejriwal appointed Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) as the project consultant for the procurement of electric buses.
Sources said transport department officials had objected to the decision of involving an agency that holds no experience in dealing with the electric buses. The Cabinet meeting was then put on hold for some time as the conversation turned ugly. “A heated argument took place between Kejriwal and the officials from the transport department and soon the CCTV cameras were switched off. The rest of the meeting was conducted without any recording,” said a senior officer, who was present in the meeting.
However, the government has refuted the allegations. “Nothing like that happened in the meeting. If the Cabinet has decided to remove the CCTV cameras, it is the decision of the members. The Cabinet is sacrosanct and no one can question its decision,” said a Delhi government spokesperson.
CM Kejriwal had earlier decided to record all the Cabinet meetings after Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash was allegedly assaulted by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs in February. The IAS officers from the government had then declared an open war against the AAP government, refuting to attend any meetings with the ministers.
“If they do not misbehave with the officers, then why there was a need to switch off the CCTV cameras? On one hand, they talk about monitoring of the Capital to ensure the safety of the residents while on the other hand, they are not thinking about the security of their own officers,” said another senior officer.
The move has once again drawn criticism from the political parties in the Capital. “Kejriwal should explain why he ordered discontinuation of CCTV recording of Cabinet meetings. He himself had announced that all the meetings would be recorded,” said Vijender Gupta, leader of Opposition.
WAR OF WORDS
- Argument started when Kejriwal appointed Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System as the project consultant for the procurement of electric buses.
- Transport dept officials had objected to the decision of involving an agency that holds no experience in dealing with the electric buses.
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