Sisodia calls LG ‘dictator’

NEW DELHI:An irked Deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia, today accused Lt Governor Anil Baijal of running a “parallel government” in the capital calling him “dictator” after the latter chaired a meeting on the status of installation of CCTV cameras in the city in which Baijal ordered the setting up of an inter-agency group to monitor their work and their operation/ maintenance.

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 19

An irked Deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia, today accused Lt Governor Anil Baijal of running a “parallel government” in the capital calling him “dictator” after the latter chaired a meeting on the status of installation of CCTV cameras in the city in which Baijal ordered the setting up of an inter-agency group to monitor their work and their operation/ maintenance.

“Chaired law and order meeting on current status of CCTV cameras in Delhi.... Directed to have an inter-agency group to formulate a SOP to have uniformity in installation and address issues of privacy, security, feed-sharing, integration and optimum utilisation,” Baijal said.

Soon Sisodia took to Twitter saying, “LG Sir, please don’t be a dictator. This is an attempt to run a parallel government in Delhi. It is illegal. You don't have power to call meeting on issues under elected government's domain.”

Backed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, he added that under the Constitution, the LG could only express “difference of opinion” on decisions taken by the elected government. “Please respect the Constitution,” Sisodia added.

In today’s meeting, which pushed the confrontation between the government and the LG further, the LG was informed that currently 4,067 CCTV cameras are installed at 87 different sites by the police, while proposal for installation of 1,380 cameras is under active consideration by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Master Control Stations have been installed in police stations concerned to monitor the CCTV system and at 29 sites, automatic number plate recognition cameras have been put in place which send automatic alerts to the control room, the LG was informed.

As per a statement issued by Raj Niwas, Baijal said if CCTV cameras are installed by different agencies without coordination with the police in a haphazard manner, the whole purpose of installation of CCTV cameras would be defeated.

The LG said a standard protocol for sharing of video feed with the police has to be evolved and locations which are sensitive, crime prone, have to be identified in coordination with police.