THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Congress camp is elated that the LDF government has finally decided to remove the controversial US-based Sprinklr Inc from the handling of data of patients and people under surveillance for suspected Covid-19. The government revealed its decision in the affidavit submitted before the Kerala High Court on Thursday.
It was Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala who first came up with the allegation of a nexus between the American company and the LDF government, which saw IT secretary S Sivasankar owning up responsibility for entering into the contract. Basking under the victory, KPCC vice-president V D Satheesan, MLA, on Thursday asked the state government to not enter into a contract with Sprinklr on application updation too.
Chennithala first raised the controversial deal on March 10 but it was not taken seriously by the public. He relentlessly came up with further revelations on what data transaction is all about and how it affects the common man. Chennithala said it was the biggest ever data scam the state had ever seen. When Chennithala had raised the row, not a single file on the agreement had existed. The next day, files were created which evoked suspicion about the deal. Chennithala reiterated that the deal was signed by keeping the cabinet, law department and LDF allies in the dark, which forced the IT secretary to visit CPI secretary Kanam Rajendran and various TV channel studios to explain the deal.
On Thursday, when the LDF government informed the High Court that the data analytics company would not be collecting or analysing patient data anymore, Chennithala had the last laugh. “The Opposition leader will address the media on Friday morning. There are still loopholes in the 196-page affidavit submitted before the High Court. We have sought legal opinion and it is the data analytics company which has withdrawn from the deal. The Opposition leader will make more revelations,” a source close to Chennithala told TNIE.
Though it is definitely a matter of satisfaction for the Opposition, they are still unhappy with the way the LDF government has given Sprinklr a role with software updation, as the data will be collected using the US firm’s application. Satheesan told TNIE that it was Sprinklr that had walked away from the deal. He feels that with the High Court asking the government to anonymise all data collected from Covid-19 patients and people under surveillance, there is no commercial value for the company. “It is surprising that, within two weeks, the LDF government has proclaimed before the HC that C-DIT is competent enough to undertake collection and analysis of patient data,” he said.