Thiruvananthapuram/Kozhikode: Amid allegations of corruption in awarding the Rs 232-crore project to SRIT India to install AI cameras to regulate road traffic across, the Bengaluru-based company has been yet again awarded a contract in connection with the rollout of the ambitious Kerala Fiber Optic Network project which is State's own internet network and service.

Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Limited (KSITIL) has appointed SRIT India as the Managed Service Provider (MSP) for a period of three years. The deal will vest with SRIT a key role in the project implementation besides a lucrative 10 per cent revenue share of the businesses earned under the project, aimed to make the internet accessible to everyone. It will receive an additional incentive of up to two per cent if the project could bag more businesses outside the target. Also, if it assists K-FON in lending out dark fibre, currently lying unutilized, it has been promised half of the revenue share. In effect, the SRIT has become a business partner of the K-FON project.

(Dark fibre denotes underground fibre optic cables on which service is set to commence. It is also known as unlit fibre.)

Earlier, it was a consortium led by Bharat Electronics Ltd, which also included the SRIT, which was entrusted with the setting up of the Optical Fiber Cable across the state. The latest deal was doled out following numerous discussions on the part of K-FON authorities as to whether such a company can be allowed to participate in the MSP tender proceedings, sources said.

Earlier, the K-FON had excluded such companies while obtaining the Internet Service Provider (ISP) licence. However, the authorities allowed the SRIT to participate in the MSP tender this time, citing that no adequately qualified companies came forward to submit the bid.

Two other companies participated in the tender, but the tender was allotted to SRIT as it quoted the lowest bid. All the proceedings in this regard were transparent, K-FON authorities pointed out.

Now it will be the SRIT that will be providing high-speed internet connectivity to all Government offices and business institutions, besides extending free internet connections to 20 lakh BPL families in the state. They will also be entrusted with the maintenance of the service. Nearly 60 employees of the company will be deputed for the purpose and they will be allocated space in the K-FON office.

While the contract provisions rule out the issuance of sub-contracts, a relaxation is provided for marketing activities and they can appoint outside parties.

K-FON tender proceedings too dubious
The K-FON contract has many dubious similarities to that of the controversial AI camera deal when it comes to the tender amount. The contract was issued at an amount, which is 49 per cent higher than the figure bid. While the amount quoted was Rs 1,028 crore, the contract was finally issued for Rs 1,531 crore. This followed the interference of the then IT Secretary M Sivasankar, who is on remand in the Life Mission graft case.

Similar allegations were raised during the issuance of the contract to install 726 AI cameras for detecting traffic violations across the state. While the project cost was initially pegged at 151.22 crore, the same rose to Rs 232 crore later.

As reported earlier Kerala Government-undertaking Keltron was awarded the contract for the Safe Kerala project for AI camera surveillance on behalf of the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD). But SRIT, which is based in Bengaluru, which was given the deal gave a sub-contract to another firm named Presidio Technologies Pvt Ltd.