THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The General Administration Department (GAD) has asked employees facing any hitches in the biometric punching system in Secretariat to report the matter to the authorities.
The direction comes in the wake of complaints from a section of staff union especially those affiliated to the Congress that the biometric machine was transmitting conflicting timings into the system. "In case if any employee comes across a problem related to the biometric punching system it should be brought to my notice. We will take steps to rectify it. No employee will be put to any disadvantage or inconvenience because of snag in the system," said GAD principal secretary Biswanath Sinha.
At present when an employee punches on the biometric punching machine he gets a text message on the mobile phone with details of the entry including correct time. But the KSA leaders say there have been instances of wrong timings being registered in the system. "We have received complaint that at the time of punching the timing shown in the text message was 10.10 am but in the accounts and billing system, it was registered as 10.45 am or 11.10 am. This could be because of a technical snag," said Kerala Secretariat Association leader Jyothis. He said the association had submitted a memorandum to the chief minster citing these problems.
However, GAD sources said the possibility of different entries as far as time is concerned was remote. The same data which is transmitted through SMS gets automatically registered in accounts and billing section. There is no second generation of data so the possibility of different timings is not possible. However, if the employees still have complaints they should bring specific instances before the authorities concerned with evidence.
Many allege that baseless allegations were also being levelled by disgruntled employees as they are not happy with the linking of biometric punching system with the Spark System through which Secretariat employees receive salaries. The GAD officials said most of the snags and problems related to the system had been removed and it was working well.
It may be recalled that separate modules were developed in Spark system for recording the details of leave, official tour, compensatory off and shift system. Attendance Monitoring Cell was constituted with a nodal officer from GAD to monitor the attendance management system of the Secretariat. The cell was empowered to initiate disciplinary action against the officers who failed to adhere to the directions issued in connection with bio-metric punching system.
