Attendance machine at LIT office lies defunct

Kuldip Bhatia
Ludhiana, October 19

It seems that the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) authorities do not believe in the Centre and Punjab governments thrust on digital technology. Even after installation of a biometric attendance machine in the office long ago, LIT employees still mark their attendance manually. The reason behind doing so is the biometric attendance machine, which has been lying defunct. May be, deliberately or otherwise, nobody is serious to get it repaired.

In a complaint lodged with the Principal Secretary, Local Government, Punjab, and Director, Local Bodies, Punjab, Arvind Sharma, secretary, Council of RTI Activists, has alleged that the biometric attendance machine, installed at the LIT office four years ago, has not been functioning for last more than two years without anyone bothering to get it repaired.

The complainant stated that a few employees and officials had vested interests in keeping the biometric attendance machine non-functional because many of them were making up and down trips from out of the station.

“Those coming late in the morning and leaving early in the evening to catch buses/trains for the journey back home are convenient with the manual attendance marking system. Hence, a non-functional biometric machine is a boon to them,” said Sharma in his complaint.

The information obtained by him from the LIT under the Right to Information Act revealed the erratic pattern of attendance of several employees and officials, who were making daily up and down trips to attend office, he added.

“Most of these employees also leave station almost every day without permission of their superiors, which is another irregularity,” he said.

Sharma maintained that getting the machine repaired was not a big deal, but the biometric attendance would not suit those coming from outside Ludhiana.

“That could be one of the main reasons for keeping the machine non-functional and instead marking the attendance manually in a register,” he said.

The complainant demanded that instructions be issued to LIT officials to get the machine repaired or replaced and immediately switch over to biometric attendance.

He also wanted that responsibility be fixed for keeping the machine in a state of disrepair for such a long time and disciplinary action be taken against those responsible for such a grave lapse.