THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Transport Minister Antony Raju has said that the High Court's order to suspend payment for the AI camera project was not a setback to the government. He emphasised that the order was not intended to halt the functioning of the cameras. Raju assured that the motor vehicles department would scrutinise the payment to Keltron, the project management consultant, before any disbursement, as there is still time for evaluation.
“How do we scrutinise a contract which is yet to be formulated? The government has not given any money to Keltron so far. We will give the first tranche in three months’ time after signing the contract. The contract is only for disbursing the money while the lack of a contract is no impediment to the operation of cameras,” said Raju. He pointed out that the court rejected the plea to stop the operation of cameras.
The AI camera project, valued at Rs 232 crore, faced controversy over allegations of lack of transparency and cost overruns. The opposition UDF and activists had come out against the project right from the beginning. As part of the Safe Kerala project, the motor vehicles department has installed 726 cameras, with 692 cameras currently operational.
These cameras primarily target offences such as bikers not wearing helmets, overloading, car passengers not using seat belts, drivers using mobile phones, jumping red signals, speeding, and dangerous and illegal parking. Thus far, the AI-camera surveillance network has detected over 11 lakh traffic offences, as reported by the MVD.