A technical audit carried out by the Delhi Government PDW department has revealed that almost 32,000 CCTV cameras installed in 70 assembly constituencies of Delhi during the Aam Aadmi Party government are not working. PWD Minister Pravesh Verma, citing the report received from the PWD department regarding CCTV cameras, said that out of more than 250,000 CCTV cameras installed, 32,000 are not functioning.
Minister Pravesh Verma has now ordered a probe as to why 32,000 cameras are not working. It may be noted that the BJP ended a 10-year rule by the Aam Aadmi Party in the national capital in the Delhi assembly polls held in February, 2025.
AAP government when in power had decided to install 280,000 CCTV cameras across all the 70 assembly constituencies to mount surveillance on crimes and other anti-social activities. The total project cost was around Rs. 571 crore, according to official sources.
However, the CCTV camera scheme of the AAP government has been in controversy right from the beginning. After the formation of the new BJP government in Delhi in March, the Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena approved the prosecution of former minister Satyendra Jain in the case of corruption related to this scheme.
The PWD minister of the Delhi government, Pravesh Verma, told media persons that before installation of the CCTV cameras by the previous AAP government it was part of the deal that if the cameras do not work, the automatic control room will get to know immediately and it would be fixed while sitting in the control room.
Apart from this, the company which was given the work of installing CCTV cameras by the government, has to do maintenance for five years. In such a scenario, why the CCTV cameras are not working should be investigated, said Verma.
