GHMC saves Rs 1.5 crore using AI tech for attendance

Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) announced on Thursday that the recently implemented AI-driven, mobile-based facial recognition biometric attendance system for sanitation, entomology, and veterinary staff has increased transparency and reduced wage expenditures.

In a press release, the corporation reported that the average monthly expenditure on sanitation wages decreased to ₹31 crore from ₹33.5 crore following the replacement of the old Aadhaar-enabled biometric hand-held devices with the new AI-driven facial recognition system. The Aadhaar-enabled system was discontinued due to fraudulent practices, including proxy attendance using synthetic fingerprints.

However, some technical glitches were recently reported in the facial recognition system application, which was highlighted in Deccan Chronicle recently. The Vigilance wing of the corporation has requested the IT wing to address these issues.

The GHMC acknowledged that in Secunderabad zone, the attendance of two staffers was inaccurately marked using just their photograph. The contract for implementing the AI-based facial recognition attendance system across the entire GHMC was awarded following a thorough e-procurement process.