उपराज्यपाल, दिल्ली

Protest without reason – No proposal of CCTV Cameras sent to Hon’ble Lt. Governor, yet Hon’ble Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal leads protest misleading the public.
Hon’ble Lt. Governor agrees to meet Hon’ble Chief Minister, Council of Ministers and Hon’ble Member of Parliament – Hon’ble Chief Minister prefers to sit on dharna and avoids constructive deliberations.
Despite seeking time to meet Hon’ble the Lt. Governor on the issue of installation of CCTV Cameras in Delhi, the Hon’ble Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal and his Council of Ministers along with Hon’ble MLAs and one Hon’ble Member of Parliament Shri Sushil Gupta preferred to sit on dharna near Raj Niwas rather than meeting the Hon’ble Lt. Governor to articulate and resolve the issues for which they marched to the Raj Niwas. This is despite the fact that the Hon’ble Lt. Governor offered to meet the Hon’ble Chief Minister and his Council of Ministers and the Hon’ble Member of Parliament and had already clarified in his letter dated 13.05.2018 that no instructions have been given to stall or stop the award of work for installation of CCTV by the elected government.

Hon’ble Chief Minister was more comfortable in making the allegations against the Hon’ble Lt. Governor without basis and based on unwarranted apprehensions about the stalling of the project of CCTV. Hon’ble Chief Minister conveniently ignored the actual fact that his own Cabinet has not even as yet considered the departmental proposal for CCTV. It is only after Cabinet approval that such proposals are sent to the Hon’ble Lt. Governor and in this case no such approval has been accorded by the Council of Ministers and sent to the Hon’ble Lt. Governor for his consideration.

The Committee formed under the Principal Secretary (Home) has very clear terms of reference and is only to facilitate successful implementation of CCTV Surveillance. The Hon’ble Chief Minister and his Council of Ministers ignored that security and safety of women and vulnerable sections can only be achieved with successful outcome of the CCTV installation. Without proper regulation and standard operating procedures, such outcomes are not possible.

The aim of the Government cannot be mere physical installation of CCTV Cameras. Rather the objective should be on how CCTVs will be used to enhance security and safety of women, aged and vulnerable sections, how these will be used to prevent and detect crime without at the same time compromising with the fundamental right of privacy and meeting with the requirements of The Information Technology Act, 2000.

It was unfortunate that the Hon’ble Chief Minister and his delegation refused to meet the Hon’ble Lt. Governor, despite the Hon’ble Lt. Governor’s making time to discuss the issue and proposals as perceived by the Hon’ble Chief Minister.

The Lt. Governor reiterates that safety of women, aged and children is the highest priority and successful outcomes from installation of CCTV should be the goal of stakeholder departments, coordinating and working as per agreed and approved standard operating procedures.

The fact that more than two lakh cameras have already been installed in the city without coordination, highlights the need for a proper framework in which all CCTVs in public places installed in Delhi should work with a common objective of law enforcement, prevention and investigation of crimes and purpose in a coordinated, purposeful and regulated manner. Hon’ble Lt. Governor has never stopped this project. In fact his initiative and support facilitates the successful implementation of the project.