India resumes biometric attendance tracking for government employees next week

India’s central government has announced that the use of biometric devices to register work presence of all levels of employees in the country will resume on Monday November 8, reports The Times of India.

The use of biometric time and attendance systems had been the practice in the country until the outbreak of the coronavirus forced its suspension last year. Since the suspension which was part of measures to halt the spread of the virus, attendance at government workplaces has been recorded using physical registers.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) recently issued an order on this saying the situation has been reviewed and biometric attendance system use can resume, especially as cases of COVID are said to have fallen significantly.

Heads of departments have been called upon to ensure the strict implementation of the directive and to also make sure sanitizers are kept close to biometric machines in order that employees can disinfect their hands before and after placing their fingers on the biometric scanners.

According to the report, the DoPT has also directed that some personnel be designated to clean the touchpad area of the biometric machines as frequently as possible, and that the machines be installed in open air areas or well-ventilated spaces.

Meetings should continue to be held virtually for as long as possible, the DoPT also instructed.

Meanwhile, in line with the DoPT order, the Delhi University Registrar Vikas Gupta also issued a note announcing that biometric attendance for the all the university staff will resume next Monday.

In a different report by The Times of India, the university official called for sanitizers to be placed near the biometric machines while users make sure they respect physical distancing precautions.

Gupta also suggested that more biometric devices could be made available in order to avoid overcrowding.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  fraud prevention  |  identity verification  |  India  |  time and attendance