Railway Employee Attendance Biometric System: The Railway Board has issued written instructions to general managers of 17 zones to install biometric attendance machines or facial recognition systems for station staff to curb irregularities in claiming ‘overtime’.
The old system was faulty
Citing a recommendation of the Vigilance Directorate of the Railway Board, the circular said, “The Vigilance Directorate of Railway Board had sent a reference to the CVC in a case involving irregularities in swapping of duties by station masters and claiming of overtime by station staff. In this regard, the CVC has suggested certain improvements to be incorporated in the system.”
The system can be linked to overtime allowance
Quoting one of the CVC’s suggestions, the board’s circular said, “Biometric attendance machines or facial recognition systems may be installed for all station staff, including station masters, station supervisors and points men, and these digital attendance records may be linked to the consideration and approval of OTA (overtime allowance) claims to enhance accountability in the system.”
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The Board has asked all concerned officials to “ensure strict compliance of the above instructions of CVC to avoid recurrence of such lapses in future.”
Station masters expressed surprise
A section of station masters expressed surprise at the Board’s directive and said that this could prove to be an unproductive exercise for the Railway Board.
“At present, there are no biometric attendance machines or facial recognition systems for station staff at any station across the country as they work on the basis of physical rosters prepared and enforced by their superiors,” said a station supervisor.
Will it affect the work of the board
He said, “Cases of overtime claims are very rare and if there is any irregularity, it should be settled on a case-to-case basis. Many station masters work more than eight hours but do not claim overtime. In case of biometric attendance, the overtime hours worked will be recorded and the railways will have to pay for it, which may prove to be a useless exercise for the board.”
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