The controversies surrounding the AI road camera project in Kerala persist, with ongoing dissatisfaction among motorists and allegations of inflated costs. Recent revelations shed light on the involvement of Presidio Technologies Pvt Ltd, which acted as an intermediary and contributed to the doubling of the Safe Kerala Project’s expenses for AI camera installation on roads.
Keltron, a Kerala government undertaking, was initially awarded the contract for the Safe Kerala project on behalf of the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD). However, the primary contractor SRIT, based in Bengaluru, subcontracted Presidio, a relatively new company established in 2018. Despite having only two years of experience, Presidio became part of the consortium.
Newly surfaced purchase orders from SRIT to Presidio and a similar order from Lyte Master to Trois provide evidence that Presidio profited significantly from acting as the intermediary. These purchase orders indicate that the project’s cost, which would have amounted to a maximum of Rs 70 crore if the equipment had been procured directly by KELTRON or the Transport department, escalated to Rs 151 crore due to Presidio’s involvement.
The same equipment that Trois offered to sell to Al Hind and Lyte Master for Rs 50 crore was purchased by Presidio through eCentric and resold to SRIT for Rs 75 crore. Furthermore, Presidio’s purchase order includes computers, laptops, and printers, which were also priced well above the market rate.
Initially, Al Hind was part of the project but withdrew after being pressured to exclusively procure equipment from Trois. Subsequently, Lyte Master joined the project but later withdrew as well, leading to the involvement of eCentric. A purchase order issued to Trois before Lyte Master’s departure reveals that Presidio sold the equipment to SRIT at more than twice the procurement rate. It’s worth noting that the Kozhikode-based Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society Limited had previously denied any connection to SRIT.
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