CWG allegations: Dikshit unfazed, Delhi govt dismisses allegations

[caption id=“attachment_53683” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Ruling out that the criticism was making her “uncomfortable”, Dikshit said her government will present its case when it will be asked to. Arko Datta/Reuters”]  [/caption] New Delhi: Unfazed by the allegations of irregularities in Commonwealth Games projects, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today asserted she or her government has “not done anything wrong” and said everything was done keeping in mind the “national interest and prestige”. “We have not done anything wrong. Everything was done keeping in mind the national interest and prestige. We were entrusted with certain responsibilities and we delivered them,” Dikshit said. Her reaction came in the wake of reports by the Comptroller and Auditor General alleging of irregularities in awarding of contracts of certain CWG projects. Ruling out that the criticism was making her “uncomfortable”, Dikshit said her government will present its case when it will be asked to. “There is a process. After tabling of the CAG report in Parliament, it goes to the Public Accounts Committee. When they will ask about our position, we will explain,” Dikshit said. The Delhi government stoutly rejected the allegations, saying the CM never “intervened to favour” any firm and all due processes were followed in finalising the contracts. Delhi Chief Secretary PK Tripathi, reacting to media reports about the CAG findings, said Dikshit never intervened in award of any contracts and all the allegations levelled against her were “totally incorrect”. “The facts stated in the media reports are not correct. The Chief Minister never favoured any company to get contract as reported by media quoting CAG report,” Tripathi said. On allegations that Dikshit favoured M/s Space Age Switchgears to get a contract for installation of streetlights in certain areas even though it was disqualified earlier, Tripathi said the firm got the contract following an order of the Delhi High court. “The company had challenged the disqualification in the High Court and the court had passed an order to consider it. So the allegation that it was selected at the behest of the chief minister is totally incorrect,” he said. He said initially three firms M/s Keselec Schreder, Bajaj Electricals (TRILUX) and Phillips Electronics India Ltd were selected by a high-powered committee. Following the selection M/s Space Age Switchgears gave a representation to Dikshit which was simply marked to the engineer-in-chief (PWD) by her and no directions whatsoever were given. “This is normal practice as hundreds of petitioners meet the Chief Minister and desire to get their papers marked to the concerned department,” said Tripathi. PTI