Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (KELTRON) distanced itself from allegations against the contract made for installing Artificial Intelligence-enabled surveillance cameras for traffic management. According to KELTRON Chairman & Managing Director (CMD )Narayana Murthy, it has no responsibility of company that has subcontracted the installation of AI cameras.

Earlier today, Chennithala raised allegations against the contract pertaining to the installation of AI cameras across the state under MVD. Though the contract was made for Rs 75 crore, the government later announced Rs 232 crore as the expenditure of the project, said Ramesh Chennithala in a press meet. He also alleged that the entity which won the e-tender has no previous experience in the sector.

Reacting to the development, Minister for Transport Antony Raju claimed that KELTRON has to respond to Chennithala’s allegations. The state-owned enterprise KELTRON, which prepared the project is obliged to explain details like the cost of AI cameras and its technical aspects, said the minister. If there are any issues over the transparency of the project, then KELTRON should clarify, he noted.

Murthy’s remarks come at this juncture. He elaborated on the cost details of the entire setup and allied arrangement. “This is a large system-depended project and does not limit to AI cameras,” he noted. 

Rs 232 crore worth of project means it includes the capital expenditure, operational cost for running the system for five years and its GST, he pointed out. 

A single AI camera unit system costs around 9.5 lakhs, which includes the cost of All Vehicle ANPR System (AV ANPR) camera, graphic processor, AI license fee, solar panel, recorder, battery, installation cost and finance expenses for upfront investment. A total of Rs 60 crore has been spent on AI camera systems alone. 

He refuted the narrative based on assumption that Rs 232 crore was spent for installing 726 cameras (including 675 AI cameras). He further highlighted that all cameras placed are not AI cameras.

13 control rooms, a data centre, IT equipment, firewall, etc are part of the new AI-based traffic system. According to reports, capital expenditure for the project is Rs 140.2 crore, the operational cost for 5 years is Rs 56.24 crore and GST is Rs 35.76 crore.