MLA Hostel to be under camera surveillance

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The MLA Quarters in the city, the accommodation facility of legislators located adjacent to the state legislative assembly complex, is all set to get improved security features, with the Keltron working on a project to install a surveillance camera network around it.
According to Keltron officials, the network will have 30 cameras, all of them having night-vision capabilities. They are also setting up a control room in the security room of the MLA Quarters complex, where the security personnel can monitor the visual feed live. The system will also have the feature to store the visuals for some time so that they can be retrieved for detailed examination if needed.


The budget of the project is around Rs 3 crore as the cameras and other related devices being used are in tune with the latest technology.

Even though authorities concerned maintained that the surveillance network is simply a part of continuing development works, the system is also expected to check the visit of people with a tainted track record and other suspicious elements into the complex. "The cameras are being installed along the periphery of the Quarters, all trained inside. There is no question of these cameras being a privacy concern to the legislators," said a Keltron official on condition of anonymity.

According to legislative secretary V K Babuprakash, the camera surveillance system was just a part of an ongoing process of fully digitizing the functions of the Legislative Assembly and not a ploy to snoop on the MLAs and the people who visit them. ''There was absolutely no opposition from any of the legislators," he said. In fact, the House Committee of Legislative Assembly that deals with the accommodation facilities of the legislators, too had sought for a camera system as part of upgrading the security.

There had been instances when people with criminal antecedents had used the MLA Quarters as a hideout. The case of Jayachandran, the mastermind of the controversial honeytrap case which is more popularly known as 'Blue Blackmail' case is an example. After being accused in the case, Jayachandran had stayed in the MLA Quarters for a few days to evade arrest in 2014. He lived in the room belonging to an MLA. The MLA had booked the room for a party worker, who in turn gave the room key to Jayachandran.

A group of MSF (affiliated to Muslim League) activists were given shelter by their seniors in the party after they allegedly attacked SFI activists of Kerala Law Academy Law College last year.

Also in 2017, the police had arrested a fraudster, who swindled people by offering them jobs in Trivandrum International Airport using his political contacts. He used to take his victims to the MLA Quarters, at the pretext of meeting some MLAs and gave them a slip after collecting money from them.