New Delhi, Mar 29: Under pressure over the severeindictment by the Shunglu Committee, Delhi Chief MinisterSheila Dikshit today challenged the Committee to show at least one case of corruption so that the government could take action.
"What kind of action. We can take action if corruption is proved. Just because out of ten people in the room, eight are corrupt it does not mean you have to hang the two also.
"The PM said it, I have also said it that you tell us where it (corruption) is if there is corruption we will definitely take action...how can you cartelise the whole thing. Most officers of government of Delhi are here for two to four years.
"You cannot fault a person unless he had actually done something wrong. And they all followed the manuals of procedures."
Dikshit said the committee's finding was "self contradictory" and criticised the panel for lack of understanding on the City government's role in conduct of Commonwealth Games.
Rejecting the findings of the PM-appointed probe panel which indicted both Lt Governor Tejinder Khanna and her for alleged irregularities in certain Games projects, Dikshit also said she would be the first person to question herself if any wrongdoing had been committed by her.
"If there is an instance of corruption against me, I certainly would be the first person to question myself...It was not my duty to go to project sites at midnight or 2 o'clock or 3 o'clock in the morning. I did everything possible so that India's image is not affected," Dikshit told PTI in an interview, a day after she met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"I am not hurt by it (the Shunglu Committee report) or anything like that but I do feel that there has been a lack of understanding about what we did," she said, calling the report "self contradictory"
"Broadly our observation is that some conclusions have been arrived at without adequate support of facts. Assumptions , presumptions have come. Secondly the report contradicts itself...Show us a case of corruption. Just show us that this was a corrupt practice. We will take action." she said.
The Chief Minister, during a meeting with the prime minister, conveyed to him that the findings of the panel are "unfair" and "inconsistent".
"We stepped in where we were asked to step in, not otherwise. I had not even seen what the Games village looked like. If I was asked by (then Sports Minister) Mr M S Gill to go to a particular stadium, I went there, happilly went there. We did whatever we were asked to do," said Dikshit.
"We are going to answer paragraph-by-paragraph to the report. What surprised us was the report had not even come to us but it was available in the public domain. When something comes on the public domain then you and I have a equal right to say what your understanding is and what our understanding is," she said.
Asked whether Shunglu committee ever sought her opinion before finalising the report, Dikshit said she did not know whether it had terms of reference to do that.
"I dont know whether it had terms of referrence to do that. All that I know was that the Shunglu Committee perhaps asked many of our departments for papers," she said.
Criticising the findings, Dikshit quoting the report said "in the beginning it says, the Delhi of 2003 would have served for the Commonwealth Games in 2010. So why was there all these wastes."
Asked about her meeting with the Prime Minister, Dikshit said it seemed the PMO understood the explanation given by her on the findings of the Shunglu panel.
On whether she was disappointed with what has been happening following the Games, Dikshit said it is "all part of life. God has been kind to me. I am a very positive person. I look at the positive things."
"It was not my duty to go and check progress of the projects. Winter had set in. There was heavy rains. There was floods. But still we visited the project sites in the mid night, early in the morning. We even went to the extent of feeding the construction labourers who had said that they were not getting proper food. It was only to see that India's image is not affected," she said.
Queried about delays in projects that resulted in cost escalation, Dikshit blamed it on multiplicity of authorities and said the assembly election in 2008 had also delayed some projects.
"You know reason for the delays..there is ASI, DUAC (Delhi Urban Art Commission), DDA and then CPWD's requirements, IOC's requirements. Most of the stadiums were made by the Sports Authority of India. If they had required a road to go to the project site, when we were told about it, we did it. And we went through an election in 2008, please remember that."
The Prime Minister-appointed Shunglu Committee has found procedural violations by Delhi Lt Governor Tejinder Khanna and the Chief Minister for alleged inadequacies in executing projects related to Commonwealth Games held here in October last year.
The Committee, appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to probe charges of corruption in various projects related to the sporting extravaganza, has submitted two reports on alleged irregularities in executing contracts related to construction of the Games Village and city infrastructure projects.
The high-level committee has estimated Rs 900 crore as "cost of delay" by certain government departments in implementing infrastructure related projects and Rs 300 crore loss to DDA in construction of Commonwealth Games Village near Akshardham temple.
The committee in its two reports -- construction of Village and development of City infrastructure -- has pointed out several irregularities like delays, collusive bidding and haste decision on part of certain central and Delhi government officials which led to cost escalation and loss worth crores to the government exchequer.
During her meeting with the Prime Minister, Dikshit also gave a brief report to him about the city government's observation about the panel's findings and is also understood to have explained to him about the "collective feelings" of her cabinet which felt the "report is a kind of insinuation against the government".
Dikshit has also said that a "detailed report" is being prepared by her government in response to the Shunglu Committee's findings and it will be sent to the Prime Minister's Office soon.
Top officials in the city Government said all the departments which name figured in the Shunglu Committee report has been asked to submit individual reports on the observation of the high-level panel.
Dikshit had yesterday submitted a brief report to the Prime Minister, broadly rejecting the findings of the Shunglu panel.
The BJP has been mounting pressure on Dikshit, demanding her resignation following her "indictment" by the committee. PTI
