The opposition Congress in Kerala on Thursday heavily criticized the Left government over its Rs 232 crore AI camera initiative, which it believes involves a “massive, systematic and planned” corruption scheme centering around the office of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Senior Congress leader and former Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ramesh Chennithala claimed that common people are being duped in order to fill the pockets of businesses owned by the Chief Minister’s friends and family.
He went on to label the CM as the “main suspect” for being in the know of the entire scam.
State Industries Minister P Rajeev declared an inquiry into the incident by the Principal Secretary, Industries, in an attempt to supposedly “whitewash” the crime. This was immediately rejected by Leader of Opposition in the Assembly V D Satheesan.
The Congress leaders raised a number of questions about the project, asking why it was awarded to Bengaluru-based SRIT in the first place when it did not have the technical or financial qualifications to fulfil the criteria as per the tender conditions.
Additionally, it was noted that there were numerous cameras available in the market that had similar features and were cheaper while also providing warranties and maintenance guarantees as opposed to this AI camera project.
Satheesan further accused select companies from Kannur and Kozhikode of having ties to SRIT, thus forming a cartel to influence the bidding.
The duo demanded to know why the details of the Vigilance probe which was underway at the time of project launch were not revealed to the Cabinet.
As for the cameras themselves, Chennithala claimed that it was only an Automatic Number Plate Recognition Camera and not Artificial Intelligence Camera, calling it a “corruption” camera.
About the company:
SRIT Solutions is a Bengaluru-based technology firm that was awarded the Rs 232 crore contract to install AI cameras in Kerala by the Left government. They had previously developed facial recognition software and the Safe Kerala project was one of their primary contracts.
About the Person:
Ramesh Chennithala is the senior Congress leader and former Leader of Opposition in the Assembly of Kerala. He initially brought to light the alleged corruption that was occurring due to the AI camera project and accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of being the “prime accused”. He then continued to repeat his demands regarding the same and criticized the Minister’s inquiry as an attempt to “whitewash” the situation.
