By GAUTAM DATT
PUBLISHED: 10:30 AEST, 16 October 2014 | UPDATED: 10:32 AEST, 16 October 2014
Babus in Delhi cannot have it easy anymore. The days of not being around for work or turning up late will soon be over for the officials.
The Narendra Modi government is cracking the punctuality whip to put lazy officials on notice, asking them to enrol for a biometric roll call system which will track their attendance at the government offices and the hours spent at work.
Nearly half of Delhi babus are yet to adopt the new biometric attendance system, leading to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) setting October 25 as the deadline for bringing the entire government workforce under the punctuality regime.
Nearly half of Delhi's babus are yet to adopt the new biometric attendance system
A review of the biometric attendance system conducted by the PMO earlier this month found the babus to be lax. Out of 49,505 registered employees, only 24,107 had undergone the roll count.
A letter sent to various departments by secretary, ministry of communications and information technology R.S. Sharma said that the PMO expects 100 per cent enrolment of employees by October 25.
Registration into the biometric attendance system has been linked with the Aadhaar card. The officials cannot excuse themselves by claiming they did not have an Aadhaar card as special counters were established in all the departments to get them.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ensured that the officials report to work at 9.30am sharp and the biometric attendance system is a step in the direction of improving productivity.
There was no system prevailing for recording the attendance of senior officers, while the junior government staff continued to rely on the archaic methods of enrolling in the manual register.
A ministry and department-wise break-up shows wide gaps in moving on to the more organised way of functioning.
Out of a 300-strong work force operating in the Cabinet Secretariat, only 147 employees marked their attendance on October 8.
The system will lock the login and logout time of each employee
Further scrutiny revealed that in the directorate of standardisation of the ministry of defence, only three persons marked their attendance when the strength of the department is 186.
The ministry of home affairs, where the biometric attendance system was introduced earlier but failed to take off, continues to show its reluctance. Out of a staff of 1,800, only 20 marked themselves as present.
But there are some ministries which have been prompt. The ministry of external affairs registered 1,384 officials as being present against the strength of 2,150.
The economic ministries have also responded well. In the department of economic affairs, 596 employees marked their attendance on October 8 out of 764.
The infrastructure ministries, like coal, saw only 50 persons marking themselves present out of 200. The urban development ministry has one of highest workforce with 13,266 employees.
It was noted that till now only 713 personnel had marked their attendance. Apart from the advisories, government employees have also received text messages reminding them that they have to enter the new roll call system.
The system will lock the login and logout time of each employee and maintain the track of number of hours spent at work.
Government servants have a dubious reputation for being more relaxed than the workforce in the private sector. This is the first time when officialdom has been made to be counted.
With the prime minister taking the babus to task, observers say, things are about to change for the slack officials.
It’s a different dispensation under Modi, and it’s about time that the babus pulled up their socks and did what they are supposed to do - serve the nation.
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