Kerala's "Safe Kerala" project brought a sprawling network of AI-powered traffic cameras. On the surface, the objective is flawless: automate enforcement, ensure strict compliance, make public roads safer.
For the average citizen, the system is an unblinking observer. A millimetre over the white line, a missing helmet strap, or a slightly expired insurance policy triggers a financial penalty instantly. But a closer look at how this automated justice actually gets applied reveals a systemic flaw: the enforcement is uncompromising for the public, and considerably more flexible for the state.
🛑 The MVD vs. KSEB Standoff
A well-documented dispute between two government departments illustrates this double standard clearly. In 2023, Kerala's Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) issued an AI-camera challan against a Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) vehicle for carrying a pole used in power-line maintenance work on its roof, along with a separate fine for a seatbelt violation — together amounting to roughly ₹20,500.
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED
KSEB didn't formally appeal the fine. Instead, it began disconnecting electricity to MVD enforcement offices across multiple districts — Wayanad, Kasaragod, Kannur — citing the offices' own overdue power bills. The disruption knocked out the infrastructure the AI camera system depended on: monitoring feeds and charging for MVD's patrol EVs.
Kerala's Transport Minister at the time publicly stated the original fine may itself have been a mistake, since utility and emergency vehicles were meant to be exempt from AI camera enforcement under an existing circular. There was no dramatic backroom resolution — the standoff ended the way most bureaucratic disputes do: MVD paid its overdue bills, and power was restored, office by office, over several weeks. MVD later fined a group of KSEB workers for helmet and insurance violations in a separate incident.
Sourced from contemporaneous Kerala press coverage (Onmanorama, Asianet Newsable, CarToq — June–July 2023).
What the episode revealed wasn't a single dramatic scandal — it was a structural truth. Two government departments could disrupt each other's core public functions through informal leverage, repeatedly, across multiple districts, and face no consequence beyond eventually settling a bill. A private citizen has no equivalent lever to pull against the state.
"When the state fines itself, it just pays late. When it fines you, it doesn't wait."
🏢 The Immunity of the State Fleet
This double standard extends well beyond inter-departmental squabbles; it actively affects public safety on a daily basis. A meaningful share of government-owned heavy vehicles operate without the basic maintenance, emissions compliance, or structural condition that would be demanded of a private vehicle carrying the same load.
Compounding the mechanical side is institutional apathy. When a state-employed driver is involved in an accident — even one involving reckless driving — the immediate response is too often indifference rather than accountability. Bureaucratic insulation means the driver faces limited personal liability and little threat to their livelihood. Simply put: less to lose than the citizen on the other side of the collision.
💼 The Economics of Enforcement
This imbalance becomes sharper when viewed through an economic lens. Kerala runs significantly on the remittances of its Pravasi (expatriate) community and the tax contributions of its local workforce — the same revenue that funds the state machinery, the bureaucratic salaries, and the very AI cameras used for enforcement.
The common citizen is relentlessly taxed, strictly policed, and heavily fined, while navigating roads shared with state vehicles whose operators know the consequences rarely reach them personally. If a taxpayer's car is struck by a state bus, the citizen is left to manage the physical damage and the paperwork largely alone, while institutional machinery works, often reflexively, to protect the driver on its own payroll.
⚖️ The Two-Tiered Reality
| The Citizen | The State |
|---|---|
| Micro-ManagedPenalized instantly for minor infractions — a missing strap, a crossed white line. | Under-EnforcedHeavy vehicles operate with real gaps in maintenance and roadworthiness, often without swift intervention. |
| Financial BurdenFunds the enforcement technology itself, through taxes and automated fines. | Institutional InsulationDrivers face limited personal and financial liability when at fault in an incident. |
🔍 The Compliance Failure
From a compliance and safety-systems perspective, a framework is fundamentally weaker wherever it has a built-in blind spot. Genuine safety culture requires the same standard applied to everyone subject to the system — not a lighter one for whoever operates it.
A camera network that looks mainly downward at the ordinary citizen isn't yet a complete public safety measure — it's most effective, currently, as a revenue tool. Until state departments and public transport fleets are held to the same automated standard as the private commuter who funds them, the AI camera network will remain a paradox: strict with the public, and considerably softer with itself.
A safety system that only sees the citizen isn't watching the road.
It's watching the wallet.