CM on CAG report: Govt did no wrong

Following media reports of indictment by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday said her government had “not done anything wrong” in issues related to the Commonwealth Games.

Following media reports of indictment by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday said her government had “not done anything wrong” in issues related to the Commonwealth Games.

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“Everything was done keeping in mind national interest and prestige. We were entrusted with certain responsibilities and we delivered them,” Dikshit told reporters.

It has been said that the CAG report has indicted the Delhi government for bidding irregularities in street lighting and street signage and in purchasing plants from agencies rather than growing them in its nurseries.

Delhi chief secretary Praveen Kumar Tripathi said all procedures had been followed in awarding the contracts.

Reacting to media reports, Tripathi said the allegation that Space Age Switchgears, an electrical equipment-supplying agency not selected initially, was included later at the behest of the chief minister was wrong.

“The company was initially rejected by the board of assessors for not completing the formalities. It then gave a representation to the chief minister and she marked it to the engineer-in-chief. The work advisory board again decided not to consider the financial bid submitted by Spice Age Switchgears. The company then moved the high court, which directed the government to include it in the bidding process,” Tripathi said.

The CAG also found that the company showed the price of the luminaries (something that emits light) it imported to be much lower than the cost at which the government gave the contract for the same products to two other companies.

Tripathi answered that, saying: “There is a possibility that the company might have under-valued the invoice to evade customs duty. It is for the customs department to investigate that.”

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP president Vijender Gupta has asked for Dikshit’s resignation following the indictment.