Dikshit discusses CAG report

With pressure mounting on Delhi government following the reported irregularities pointed by CAG in certain CWG projects, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Thursday held hectic parleys with her cabinet colleagues and top officials and discussed the issue.

A meeting held at Dikshit's official residence, in the morning was attended by PWD Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan, Transport and Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely and Power Minister Harun Yusuf besides Chief Secretary P K Tripathi and some other officials.

Later she also held couple of meetings with officials and believed to have discussed the situation arising out of the reported allegations leveled against her and the government by the CAG.

Sources said the government will react to the CAG report only after it is tabled in the Parliament.

The CAG has reportedly pointed out that Spageage Switchgears, one of the disqualified firms bidding for street lighting project, was declared qualified "irregularly" after it made a plea to the Chief Minister.

It also reportedly found overspending by the government and civic agencies to the tune of over Rs 100 crore over streetscaping and an excess expenditure of Rs 31.07 crore on street lighting by MCD, NDMC and PWD.

However, city government stoutly rejected the allegations, saying she never "intervened to favour" any firm and all due processes were followed in finalising the contracts.

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".

Unfazed by the allegations, Dikshit asserted she or her government has "not done anything wrong" and said everything was done keeping in mind the "national interest and prestige".