NDMC's biometric attendance system gets delayed

The biometric login system for the employees of New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), which was scheduled to become operational from the beginning of this financial year, is all set to get delayed as the civic body is yet to identify the right device.

A machine has been installed in the Information Technology department of the NDMC headquarters on a trial basis, but the officials are not happy with the functioning of the instrument.

“The initial feedback have not been satisfactory. The machine is not reading the thumb impressions correctly. One of the employees had a cut mark on her thumb and the machine did not respond due to that. We need to have a system which takes care of such small variations,” said an NDMC official.

The officials said they are not happy with the instruments being provided by the bidders and efforts are on to identify the right device with the required specifications of the civic body. The system will be integrated with other applications as well to manage the human resource of the civic body.

The introduction of the new-age attendance system has been in controversy in the past. NDMC first introduced the system in 2009, but was forced to withdraw it in the face of opposition from staff members. However, while presenting the annual budget for the current financial year, the NDMC chairperson announced to re-introduce the biometric system.

Officials working on the project said the GIS-enabled (Geographic Information System) system will not only record attendance but also help the administration in monitoring and deployment of the employees.

Apart from the attendance instruments being installed on all floors of the Palika Kendra – NDMC headquarters – the civic body would also provide for mobile swiping machines in at least 27 locations where the staff members could log in and log out.

“Many employees who are deployed in the field would be be able to swipe from these mobile machines carried by the supervisors. An SMS would be generated and it would be delivered to the immediate superior of the employee. This will help the management in better monitoring of staff members,” an NDMC official said.