Thiruvananthapuram | The Kerala government on Wednesday said it had initiated an inquiry into the allegations of corruption surrounding Keltron over the installation of 726 AI cameras in the state under the 'Safe Kerala' project, which was envisaged to reduce road accidents and traffic violations in the state.
State Industries Minister P Rajeev made the announcement during a press meet held here in the wake of opposition Congress's allegations of irregularities and corruption in the procurement and installation of the cameras.
Rajeev said that the government had called for and received a report from Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (Keltron) regarding the allegations. "Now the Principal Secretary, Industries will examine the Keltron report and the allegations against it and will submit his findings," the minister said.
Rajeev said there was already a Vigilance probe going on since March this year, in connection with complaints against the AI camera procurement and installation. However, the complaints and probe were against the Transport department and not Keltron, he clarified.
The minister also said that Keltron had been asked to provide all documents required by the vigilance department for investigating the complaint.
Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the State Assembly V D Satheesan contended that the Vigilance probe was not on the AI camera issue, but against the allegedly corrupt activities of a transport department official. Earlier in the day, Satheesan alleged that there was corruptio and lack of transparency in the implementation of the AI camera project of the Kerala government and urged it to make public the information about the entire initiative, claiming the scheme had been "shrouded in mystery".
In a letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Satheesan claimed there was no information available in the public domain about the project contract, the agreement between the transport department and Keltron and the tendering process carried out by the company.
In his press meet, Rajeev claimed that all the tender-related information was available on the Keltron website and the government had nothing to hide.
Satheesan, in the letter, also alleged that the cameras were purchased at prices higher than market rates and there was no transparency in Keltron's selection of companies for installation of the cameras.
He said that Keltron had been commissioned by the transport department to implement the AI camera project, but the service agreement in this regard was not publicly available.
Alleging that Keltron had acted contrary to the terms of the service agreement, he said it procured the camera materials and assembled them at high cost and also added huge amounts to the contract for warranty and maintenance, despite several AI cameras being available in the market with free warranty and maintenance.
Mystery also surrounded the tendering process carried out by Keltron to select the contract companies as it was not known who participated and which firm was finally selected, Satheesan claimed.
Furthermore, while Keltron and the transport department entered into an agreement to implement the AI camera project at a cost of Rs 232 crore, the company subcontracted the work to a Bengaluru-based firm -- SRIT -- for Rs 151 crore, the LoP claimed.
He also claimed that SRIT, thereafter, formed a consortium with two other Kerala-based companies to implement the project -- and that it indicated that the Bengaluru-based firm had no technical knowledge about the work it was contracted to do.
"It needs to be investigated on what basis a company with no technical knowledge was awarded the contract. All this points to corruption," Satheesan alleged.
He further claimed in his letter that responsibility for the project had been given to Keltron, disregarding the objections of the Finance department.
Since Vijayan inaugurated the 'Safe Kerala' project last week, the opposition Congress has been vocal about its opposition to the initiative and alleged that there were irregularities and corruption involved in awarding its contracts.
