THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In the wake of the controversy over the launch of 726 cameras for detecting traffic violations, Keltron has decided to make all documents related to the contract public. The decision was taken after UDF leaders cried foul over the lack of transparency in the deal.
The industries department has also asked the industries principal secretary to submit a report on the Keltron-AI camera deal. An officer of Keltron said that the documents would be available on the company website by Thursday. The deal kicked up controversy for violating the terms and conditions and inflating the project cost.
The information technology adviser to former chief minister V S Achuthanandan, Joseph C Mathew, said the cost overrun was due to the commission given to subcontractors.“The SRIT won the bid without having any expertise in installing AI cameras. They get a 6%commission and they outsourced the work to other companies. There are similar companies that are involved in other projects and they give sub-contract to each other. I think they work like a cartel,” he said. According to him, the total project cost would not be more than Rs 65 crore while the projected cost was Rs 232 crore.
Bengaluru-based SRIT Pvt Ltd won the tender floated by Keltron for Rs 151 crore. The company gave sub-contract to Lyte Master Lighting India Pvt Ltd and Kozhikode-based Presidio Technologies Pvt Ltd. Later Presidio gave further subcontracts and completed the project within the time frame. An officer of Keltron said that the allegation was baseless and it was made without understanding how the project execution happens. “The project has been implemented by following the rules and regulations stipulated by the government. The government is not spending any money on the project. The MVD will get the cameras under its ownership after five years,” he said.
The capital expenditure is just Rs 165 crore. Out of this, SRIT will get Rs 151 crore in 20 installments in five years and Keltron will get 5% as project management cost.
Facility management is the second part of the project and it is worth Rs 66 crore. It is for operating the control rooms and issuing e-challans. “Those who raise allegations calculated the camera cost by dividing Rs 232 crore by 726 cameras and arrived at the wrong conclusion that the cameras cost Rs 35 lakh each,” he said. He also clarified that the penalty assessment for the next five years was arrived at by assessing the penalties issued by cameras installed for the past 10 years. Keltron gave a projection that Rs 424 crore would be generated as penalties in five years.