New Delhi:
Why were there no Close Circuit TVs at the nine gates of the Delhi High Court, in the heart of the national capital and a stone's throw from important places like Parliament House, India Gate and the Supreme Court? The Home Minister had an answer today: There were none because the Public Works Department (PWD) dragged its feet.
Departments, Mr Chidambaram said, were afraid to take decisions because they were scared of criticism. The "why no CCTVs" question has haunted the government since Wednesday, especially as a requisition for these had been made only three months ago after a bomb blast outside the High Court on May 25 this year. No one was hurt in that blast, but it had brought to the fore the lacunae in security at the important building - including the missing CCTVs. Now, investigators believe that blast could have been a dry run for the lethal attack on Wednesday that left 13 people dead and 88 injured, some critically.
Under attack for not having installed the crucial CCTVs, the home minister said, "You have criticized us for not installing CCTVs in Delhi High Court, but the Delhi PWD had to postpone or cancel tenders three or four times." The senior minister told the sad story of red tape - "if a decision was taken overruling objections one section would criticize it. If the tender was cancelled another section would criticize it, he said. And so, no CCTVs for the Delhi High Court.
Decisions had to be taken Mr Chidambaram said, however risky. If only the Delhi PWD had taken the decision to install the CCTVs, he rued and said, "I have minutes in writing that we had told Delhi PWD several times to install CCTV cameras, 17 in the first lot, 34 in the second lot."
The May blast too is now being investigated by the National Investigation Agency, which was handed over Wednesday's blast case within hours of it happening.