THIRUVANANTHPURAM: The employees of secretariat will soon get real time information about their biometric punching details on their mobile phones. The moment staff uses the biometric punching system to mark attendance, automatically generated text messages will appear on their cell phones. So far, cell phone details of 2,000 staff members have been linked to the system. The details of the remaining 2,000-odd employees will be keyed in by February 15. The system is expected to be up and running by February 20.
The employees will also have the provision of getting their punching details on mail. The staff needs to provide details of their e mail IDs. Meanwhile, GAD secretary Bishwanath Sinha has slapped show-cause notices to over 4,000 employees for punching after 10.15 am in January. Interestingly his name also figures in the list of latecomers. He punched late thrice. Chief secretary Paul Antony reported late once. Sources said the show cause notices had been issued as part of the routine procedure and it is only intimation to the late comers.
Harsh actions like cutting of casual leave or salary will be carried only after the employees have exhausted 180 minutes of grace period given to each employee every month. The system allowing staff accompanying ministers, those entrusted with court duties and assigned meetings outside offices to punch in advance, will come in to force from Tuesday. From tomorrow there will be provision for such staff members to record their attendance on the eve of external duties and even after completion of their assignments. However, their attendance will be cleared only after getting confirmation from superior officers.
