THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The capital city’s 54-crore Smart City traffic management project has hit a roadblock, with the police refusing to take over a network of signals and cameras over alleged technical deficiencies, while the SCTL (Smart City Thiruvananthapuram Ltd) maintains that the system is largely functional and awaiting final approval for live e-challan enforcement.
The police are flagging faulty traffic signals, concerns over camera performance and disputed contractual obligations as the reason for withholding the handing over process.
City police commissioner Arul R B Krishna alleged that more than 20 signals in city limits were reported dysfunctional in a recent assessment by traffic assistant commissioners. “Around 15-20% of the contracted work, including signal and camera functionality and other promised features, remained incomplete. The project is yet to get the technical approval,” Arul R B Krishna told TNIE.
The SCTL has installed around 1,047 cameras at 110 junctions and traffic signals at 57 junctions as part of the `54 crore Traffic Safety and City Command Control Centre and Adaptive Traffic Control System project. “Until the provisions promised in the contract are demonstrated on the ground and approved by our technical team, we cannot sign the agreement. We cannot accept this system while contractual commitments remain unfulfilled,” said the commissioner.
With pressure mounting to enter into tripartite agreement, the police have constituted an expert committee comprising a professor from the College of Engineering,Trivandrum (CET), an expert from the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), an expert from the Kerala State IT Mission and police officials to verify the project.
The police also flagged deficiencies in camera performance and other promised features. An earlier technical inspection by a CET team following complaints that some cameras were unable to identify vehicle registration numbers accurately, reportedly found dust on camera lenses affecting image clarity, besides concerns about camera quality,wiring and missing accessories.
However, the SCTL official said the network was operational except for minor complaints at a few junctions, where rectification work was under way. “Camera calibration had been completed, test challans were generated successfully through the e-challan platform, and the handover process was awaiting the police’s final technical clearance,” said an official of SCTL.
According to the Smart City official, the government-approved agreement had been forwarded to the police for verification. The Smart City official also said the police had expressed readiness to take over the system in a letter sent in September 2024, following an initial verification.
The contract was awarded to Madras Security Printers Private Limited (MST/MSP), which subcontracted the signal software component to ARS. The Smart City official said payment delays from the principal contractor to ARS had temporarily halted some software-related work.
The commissioner said that the payment arrangement between the contractor and its subcontractor was not the police’s responsibility.
