Central employees shun e-attendance; only 39% of staff in Delhi registe presence through biometric system

Prime minister Narendra Modi's push for an Aadhaar-enabled biometric system may have increased efficiency in central government offices, but it has also detected that a large number of employees working in 169 different offices in the national capital, either stay away from duties or don't mark their attendance through this new biometric system.

Out of 63,883 registered employees working in these offices, the system installed since last September has found that just 24,646 employees are registering their attendance through this system.

Top officials told dna, while it is early to conclude if they are "ghost employees" parasitizing on the state exchequer. Meanwhile, a final circular has been sent to all central government offices to explain such a large difference between the registered employees and the number of employees turning up to attend their duties.

An office memorandum has been sent to 169 different central government departments by the ministry of personnel, under prime minister has asked heads of these offices to explain the difference and if the employees are not using the AEBAS system, they be asked to use it forthwith.

"All employees are, therefore, required to register themselves in the system and mark their attendance. Instructions already exist for dealing with cases of late attendance/unauthorised absence, which may be followed," says the circular.

In the office of additional directorate general personnel of ministry of defence, out of 150 registered employees, no one has so far been marking their attendance, through the new system. In the Akanshka office of same ministry out of 99 employees, just seven are marking their attendance. In the central water commission, which has total 1,012 employees at its sprawling office, last four months only 562 employees have been showing up. Also in the central ground board office, out of 37 employees, just seven are marking attendance. The biggest office in Delhi central public works department which has 10,514 employees, less than half 2,456 are marking attendance, as per the data.

Interestingly, in the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) which has 542 registered employees in Delhi, none is marking attendance, even though they played a role in designing the system. In the press council of India, which has 69 employees, only four have been marking attendance.

According to a study conducted by the government itself, the system has kept the employees on toes and on an average they are spending nearly twenty minutes extra in office every day.

"Ever since the system was launched, the average presence time in office of the registered employees has risen by about 20 minutes per day. Considering that over 47,000 employees are using it now, an average gain of 20-minutes per day means an approximate gain of 16,000 man-hours," said an official at the ministry of personnel.

Currently, 387 organisations have implemented the biometric system of attendance. Prime minister's office (PMO) has already asked all ministries to phase out the manual system of attendance. The government has also specified that disciplinary actions may be taken against officials who are habitual late-comers and also stated that early departure from work will also be treated as a violation similar to late-coming.