Punjab goes in for biometric office attendance

To ensure punctuality and discipline amongst public servants, the Punjab government will install biometric attendance devices in all public offices in the state and in Chandigarh, a spokesman said here Sunday.

"Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has approved the installation of the biometric attendance devices in each and every public office in Punjab at Chandigarh as well as in districts and other field offices with a view to facilitate common masses," the spokesman said.

The move comes as part of the Punjab government's governance reforms campaign.

Badal said the biometric attendance system will end the harassment of people coming to public offices in the absence of officers and staff by ensuring that the staff attend office on time.

The Punjab government has, in recent weeks, conducted surprise checks in various offices to see if officers and staff were coming to office on time.

In many cases, senior officers and employees were found absent from their offices. Most of them were late-comers.

The surprise checks were conducted by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, other ministers and senior officers themselves.

Badal went to the additional secretariat building in Sector 9 early June 30 and found 14 senior officers absent from their offices.

Another check on the state health department headquarters revealed that most senior health officials were not reaching on time. Simultaneous surprise checks were made on 984 government schools across Punjab recently.