AI camera deal: Opposition, media trying to hide positive news about Kerala govt's projects, says MV Govindan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The CPM on Sunday came out strongly defending the LDF government and the chief minister on the corruption allegations in the purchase of AI cameras made for the Safe Kerala project. Claiming that corruption of not even a single penny has occurred in the purchase of the cameras, CPM state secretary M V Govindan did a valiant attempt to defend all the allegations raised by the opposition.
The CPM secretary put the entire responsibility of the purchase of cameras on Keltron and made it clear that "the government has no role in this". "If at all any procedural lapses have occurred, then the vigilance probe and the probe conducted by the industries principal secretary will find it out," he said.
He fumed at the demand that the chief minister should reply to the allegations concerning his family members' involvement in the project. "There is no need for the CM to react to all the baseless allegations. Already the vigilance probe and probe by the industry secretary are on. Hence there is no need for the CM to clarify further on this," he said.
He alleged that the UDF and media have joined hands in the negative campaign against the government and the Safe Kerala project. "There has been a concerted effort on the part of the opposition and the media to hide the positive news about the projects that were initiated by the government as part of the 100-day action plan," Govindan said.
The CPM state secretary, after the completion of the three-day CPM state committee meeting, had come prepared with a text to answer to all the allegations levelled by the opposition. However, he was not ready to elaborate on the sub-contracts given by Keltron.
"The government's agreement is with Keltron and they have given all the sub-contracts. The government has nothing to do with it. Not even a single rupee has been given for this project till date. Then, how can you claim that corruption is involved in this project?," he asked.
"The government has approved the project for Rs 232 crore, of which the expense met for the installation of the cameras is Rs 132 crore. GST amount alone is Rs 35.76 crore. Then how can you say that a corruption of Rs 100 crore has happened in this project. The government has not spent a single rupee till date for this project. The project cost has to be given to Keltron in 20 instalments," he said.
Govindan said the allegations raised by opposition leader V D Satheesan and Ramesh Chennithala were in total disparity. "One said there was corruption of Rs 132 crore while the other said it's a Rs 100-crore scam. Both are total nonsense," he said.
The CPM state secretary said Chennithala is claiming that he has all the documents and that when the cameras could be procured for Rs 57 crore it was purchased for over Rs 160 crore. But he has seen only the first part of the document. Had he seen the second part of the document, he would have known that the expense is for setting up control rooms and the systems to operationalize the project, he added.