Govt fumes at CCTV project delay

New Delhi: The AAP government proposes to impose a penalty of Rs 16 crore on the Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) for its slow pace in installing 1.40 lakh CCTVs across the national capital.

A statement issued by the Delhi government said that the BEL is under legal obligation to complete the installation of CCTVs within nine months and in case it fails to complete the entire installation work within the stipulated timeframe, it is liable to pay a 10 per cent penalty.

The penalty clause is part of an agreement signed between the Delhi government and BEL.

The BEL was awarded the contract in November last year and after completion of all formalities the company was to begin the installation of CCTVs in February this year. The entire installation work was to be completed by November 22.

Since more than two-thirds of the time given to BEL is already over, as a first step, the Delhi government proposed to impose a 5 per cent penalty (Rs 16 crore) of the overall CCTV installation project cost (Rs 320 crore) on the company. The step of invoking the clause of imposition of penalty followed strong displeasure expressed by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal over the company’s slow pace of work in installing the CCTV cameras.

The chief minister wants to complete the installation of CCTV cameras in Delhi on time and he has made it clear time and again that no delay will be tolerated. In case of any default, the company will be blacklisted and the complete 10 per cent penalty will be imposed on it.

The PWD has already issued a showcause notice to the BEL over the slow installation of CCTV cameras across the city.

It is learnt that the government will release an amount of Rs 16 crore to BEL only if it honours the legal commitment of finishing the installation of 1.40 lakh CCTV cameras by November 22.

A senior official said that of the total 1.40 lakh CCTV cameras, BEL has installed only around 16,000 CCTVs till date.