Thrissur: Former opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala demanded the release of the report by the principal secretary that looked into the contracts awarded for the 'controversial' AI camera project.
"It is very clear why the report has not been released even after a month. No government secretary can file a report against the father-in-law of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's son," Chennithala alleged during a press meeting at the Thrissur DCC office.
"If the commission in Karnataka was 40%, it is 80% in Kerala. The project could have been implemented for less than Rs 100 crore. But, the cost was raised to Rs 232 crore so that the fine collected from the common man reaches the coffers of Presadio," Chennithala said.
"But CPM state secretary M V Govindan maintains the government incurs no loss in the deal," he said.
"The arrogance of the government and chief minister has risen manifold. Pinarayi's stand is that he would do what he feels like. They have postponed collecting fines for road violations fearing people's protest," he said.
He added he would reply to the legal notice sent by SRIT.
The installation of 726 AI cameras on the National and State Highways as part of the Safe Kerala Project triggered a controversy after the oppositon parties in the state alleged corruption.
Initially, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau started a probe into the project after receiving a complaint against Rajeev Puthalath, former joint commissioner of the Motor Vehicle Department. Later, the probe has been extended to the AI camera project implementation in the state.
