Thiruvananthapuram: To prevent employees from leaving at will, the government is planning to implement a biometric punching system at all offices in the state secretariat.
The government has sanctioned Rs 1,95,40,000 for the purpose that aims to streamlining the process of marking attendance and putting an end to the unauthorised absence of employees.
Early last year, the government had switched from card punching to a biometric system. However, the system was not found effective enough.
As per the latest proposal, the entrance to each office will have a biometric access point and it will be linked to the SPARK software that is used to disburse salaries.
Last year, the General Administration Department has issued a notification on the guidelines of the punching system.
It had said that a grace time of maximum five hours (300 minutes) would be allowed in a month. Maximum of 60 minutes is allowed in a day. If an employee comes after that or leaves early, it would be considered as unauthorised leave. And salary would be cut accordingly.
