Chandigarh administrator directs to suspend bio-metric attendance system in institutions

As a preventive measure in the view of novel coronavirus, Chandigarh Administrator VP Badnore has directed that bio-metric attendance system in government/private institutions be suspended till further orders.

"The Chandigarh Administration has taken all measures with regard to containment measures being taken to avoid the spread of said disease by setting up 24X7 helpline, dedicated ambulance and fully equipped isolation wards in all the three hospitals namely GMSH-16, GMCH-32 & PGIMER," an official release of Chandigarh Administration said.

The Administrator also appealed to the residents to avoid public gatherings or postpone, more so in view of 'Holi Festival'.

"Police department was also directed to stop the usage of breath analyser being used for checking alcohol level as a containment measure in controlling the spread of disease till further orders," read the release.

The Director Skill Development and Industrial Training Institute has ordered all Industrial Training Institutes (ITI s) in Haryana to suspend the biometric attendance.

Bhupendra Singh, Principal, ITI Ambala city said: "Due to coronavirus, the bio-metric attendance system at ITI institutions in Ambala has been suspended till further orders. There are 10 ITIs in Ambala out of which six are of government and rest are private."

"Around 5,000 students are being imparted training at these centres. We are also holding discussions to aware students about coronavirus," he said.

Earlier on Friday, the central government requested all the ministries and departments to discontinue their biometric attendance system in wake of the spread of coronavirus in the national capital.

"In view of coronavirus, all Ministries/Departments are requested to exempt their employees to mark biometric attendance in Aadhaar-based Biometric Attendance System till 31 March 2020. However, all employees are required to mark their attendance in a register," Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions stated.

The Director Skill Development and Industrial Training Institute have also ordered all ITIs in Haryana to suspend the biometric attendance.

These developments come after the number of confirmed coronavirus cases reached 31 in India. The deadly virus has caused more than 3200 deaths across the world.

The novel coronavirus disease, dubbed COVID-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO), was first detected in Wuhan, Hubei Province, in late December 2019 and has since spread to more than 20 other countries.