In the past year, about 40 lakh traffic violators evaded fines despite being caught by AI cameras. Even a year after the cameras were installed, the dispute between the Department of Motor Vehicles and Keltron remains unresolved.
As a result, Kerala PSU did not issue fine notices to 40 lakh people out of the 64 lakh violators captured by the cameras, leading to a loss of approximately Rs 200 crore in revenue for the government.
The government initially touted these cameras, installed at a cost of Rs 230 crore, as a crucial step to curb traffic violations. Keltron, responsible for managing the camera control room and issuing fine notices, was instructed to send out 25 lakh penalty notices per year. After reaching that limit, they stopped. This is because the agreement between the Department of Motor Vehicles and Keltron regarding AI camera operations is yet to be finalised. The ministers had promised to fix it a year ago.
Antony Raju was the transport minister when the cameras were installed. Now, the department reports to KB Ganesh Kumar, and since he took over, interest in the AI camera project appears to have waned.