BHUBANESWAR: Smelling rat in the award of Rs 105 crore CCTV contract to a Mumbai-based private firm, the BJP on Sunday, September 5, 2021, dared the State government to set up a committee comprising members of the Assembly for a review of the tender floated by Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC).
Alleging that the price at which the deal was finalised for supply, installation and maintenance of CCTV surveillance system in 593 police stations across the State is much higher than the market price, State BJP secretary Thakur Ranjit Das said the private firm has been shown undue favour of over Rs 40 crore.
OCAC, the technical directorate of the E&IT department has invited tenders on behalf of the State police headquarters from system integration firms for installation of 12 dome cameras, 8 bullet cameras and other accessories for surveillance of police stations. The `104.96 crore contract was awarded to Mumbai based Krystal Integrated Services Private Limited. The price quoted by the firm for each police station is `15.57 lakh.
The BJP leader said CCTV surveillance system of the same quality is available at much cheaper price. It could have cost the government only Rs 35.58 crore (Rs 6 lakh per police station) against the Rs 94.41 crore quoted by the firm had the systems been procured from open market.
Das the price quoted for CCTV dome camera by the private firm is around Rs 4,000 more. The same camera is available in the government e-marketplace (GeM) at a cheaper rate. Similarly, the Rs 10.21 crore offer price accepted by OCAC for implementation of central monitoring system through video management software (VMS) installed at each SP office for monitoring of CCTV surveillance system at police stations is much higher, Das said.
He further alleged that the government agency while placing the purchase order on July 23 this year has closed its eyes to some important aspects. The private firm has no service centre in Odisha.