Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) continues to struggle with enforcing a reliable attendance process even after introducing a new face attendance system for its staff. Over the past month, around 2,000 to 2,500 employees have been recorded absent every day, even though more than 16,000 of the corporation’s 16,600 employees have already completed their registration on the system.
Officials revealed that a large number of employees fail to mark their attendances even while being within the mandated 50-metre radius of their workplace. The administration is also finding it difficult to identify the employees repeatedly showing up as absent, raising serious concerns over internal monitoring.
The issue gained prominence after the rumours surfaced in the corporation for deduction of 15 days' salaries of several daily-wage workers who were marked absent. In an attempt to avoid further dispute, the administration has been pushing for 100 % attendance through the face recognition system, but the results remain unsatisfactory.
Sources suggest that many registered employees are assigned duties at the residences of ministers and senior officials instead of their designated workplaces. As a result, their presence is not captured by the ABAS attendance system, causing them to be marked absent.
The BMC currently employs over 16,600 workers, including 12,400 temporary staff (29-day, 89-day, and contractual employees) and around 4,200 permanent employees. Even after complete registration under the IT cell, irregularities in attendance continue to be a major concern for the civic administration.
