Rs 520 crore scam in KFON deal: VD Satheesan

Opposition Leader VD Satheesan continued his attacks against the Kerala government on Thursday for the alleged corruption in the installation of the AI-enabled traffic surveillance system in the state.

The Congress leader alleged that a scam to the tune of Rs 520 crore was also executed in the KFON deal.

Under the K-Fon project which was launched in 2017, the chief minister had promised free internet for two million households besides 30,000 government offices.

"The project cost of this was pegged at Rs 1,028 crore and upon the completion of the tender process, it was hiked to Rs 1,531 crore. This was a gross violation as the then Finance secretary KM Abraham had stated that for the government projects, there should not be a hike of more than 10 per cent and here it's a staggering 50 per cent excess," Satheesan told the media in Kasaragod.

"This also involves the same firm in the AI camera scam - SRIT. There is a cartel in Kerala that has Vijayan's blessings which gets all such deals and surprisingly these are companies which have no prior experience. In short, all 'roads' of corrupt dealings finally leads to one firm - Presadio Technologies, in which close family members of Vijayan are involved, as reports about it have already come out," said Satheesan.

He said after six years of K-Fon, the fact of the matter is while the authorities say 90 per cent of the work is over, so far only 16,000 connections to offices have been given and to start with only 14,000 homes will get this connection.

"So far, Vijayan has not spoken a word against the allegations levelled against him and what's most intriguing is in the K-Fon project also the former principal secretary of Vijayan- senior IAS officer M.Sivasankar was involved."

Notably, Sivasankar -- who retired from service early this year -- is in jail over corruption in the Life Mission project.

"Despite repeated requests, Vijayan is not breaking his silence on the AI camera 'scam'. Even now if Vijayan doesn't speak up, we will be forced to come out with more documents on the massive corruption in the K-Fon also," added Satheesan.

Kerala Fibre Optic Network (KFON) is a public-funded project conceived to ensure high-speed Internet access to an entire state.

The opposition leader also informed that the Congress will hold a protest in front of the secretariat on May 20 to highlight the corruption issues.

(With IANS inputs.)