The Kerala government has not tried to mislead the Kerala High Court on the accident cases reported in the State during the period before and after the installation of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) cameras, Transport Minister Antony Raju has said.
The State government in its affidavit in the High Court pointed out that the installation of AI cameras was hugely beneficial to the State as the number of accidents had come down significantly.
Speaking to the media after a review of the AI camera project here on Tuesday, the Minister released the data of the accident cases reported this August compared to the same period the previous year. As per the data, there was no major difference in the accident statistics submitted in the court through the affidavit, cases reported in the Road Accident Portal Information Details (RAPID) by the police, and the statement tabled in the Assembly.
The Minister cited his speech made in the Assembly recently while presenting the accident statistics, in which he mentioned that the death toll in accident cases might vary slightly as there were instances of injured people succumbing to injuries later. Apart from quoting the police and transport statistics, the Minister also said according to the data available with the Directorate of Health Services, 13,219 and 6,608 accident cases respectively were reported at the casualty wings of the government hospital in the State in June and July 2022 whereas the numbers came down to 12,421 and 6,088 respectively in June and July 2023.
Mr. Raju demanded that Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan, who on Friday demanded the resignation of the Transport Minister alleging that the Minister had misled the High Court, withdraw the charges and tender an apology.
62.67 lakh offences
The review meeting confirmed that 62.67 lakh offences were detected by the AI cameras till September 30 since they were launched on June 5.
Of the total cases, 40.28 lakh cases were processed by Keltron while 22.39 lakh cases were pending with the agency. Of the processed cases, 15.84 cases were pushed for legal challan generation. Fifty-six traffic violations by the vehicles of MLAs and MPs were detected by the cameras, the Minister said.
