GHMC Attendance System Turns a Flop

Hyderabad: GHMC’s recently introduced AI-driven mobile-based facial recognition biometric system to mark the attendance of sweepers has turned out to be a flop due to technical glitches. Through this system, attendance can be marked by using a photograph of the employee, which in turn is reported to the corporation’s IT wing by its vigilance wing.

This system was introduced recently after scrapping the old Aadhaar-enabled biometric-based hand-held device following complaints of its misuse by sanitation wing workers, including sanitary field assistants (SFAs), who are responsible for marking the attendance of sweepers.

There were instances where synthetic fingerprints were used to mark proxy attendance and salaries being drawn of absent workers, with the help of SFAs.

“The facial recognition system was introduced to ensure the physical presence of sweepers. However, in Musheerabad circle, the machine marked attendance of two sweepers when a photograph of the staff was scanned even though the person was not present,” said a GHMC official.

The issue came to light when a staffer reported the issue to the vigilance wing. The complaint was also that SFAs were marking proxy attendance.

Following the complaint, the vigilance wing seized the equipment and mobile phones of SFAs working in Musheerabad circle. They found out that there were loopholes in the new attendance system.

A vigilance official told Deccan Chronicle “We have not found any irregularities like proxy attendance but there is a technical glitch. We were able to mark attendance of two staffers using a photograph. The same has been reported to the IT wing of the corporation,” he said.