THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The AI camera project which was about to be frozen after getting mired in deep corruption allegations, is set to open its eye soon. The action is due to high political pressure. It is learnt that the bigwigs in the government and the contracting companies subverted the freezing of the project. The government is planning to start imposing fines for traffic violations from May 20 onwards after the discussion held by Minister Antony Raju with Keltron, Motor Vehicle Department officials and Transport Commissioner on Wednesday. As a part of that, awareness notices have been sent from yesterday for the violations recorded by the AI ​​camera in the last week. The first notice is for repeat offenders. There will be no fines for this.

The top officials blocked the move to freeze the project by claiming that 726 AI cameras have been installed across the state and if the companies that have signed a contract with Keltron are not paid, they will approach the court and collect compensation. Some high-ranking officials with political support made the move along with the contracting companies. The concerned authorities are justifying the project by claiming that the sub-contracts were awarded through open tenders, the contract amount is not high, the equipment purchased is of good quality and that the technical committee has ensured it several times. They told the government that if the project is frozen, the cameras will be destroyed and if the project is dropped, it will lead to legal issues. Following this, the decision to freeze the project was overturned.

11 crores
The government has to pay 11 crore rupees to Keltron every three months after it starts to impose fines for traffic violations. Of this, three and a half crore are for running cameras, connectivity, data analysis, staff and solar power systems. The cost of cameras and accessories is Rs 7.5 crores. While Keltron will prepare fines by checking camera visuals, the MVD is the one who should approve it. It is said that 14 district control rooms are ready for this purpose. Keltron has assigned 146 employees for coordination. There are also officials of the motor vehicles department for this purpose.

Officials dancing to tunes of private companies

1. The top brass of the transport and motor vehicle departments are dancing to the tunes of the private companies who are demanding to quickly implement the AI camera project amid the allegations
2. They are claiming that since the cameras have been installed as per the contract, there can be no variation in the project amount or the contract and the contracts have been approved by the technical committee.
3. Another argument is that since the government has not yet paid for the camera project, there has been no financial loss for the government.
4. Those who are advocating the project are also raising a strange claim that it is customary in government projects to call for tenders for sub-contracts before the contract is confirmed.