Chandigarh MC panel wants relief for staff marked absent by GPS watches

The sanitation committee has asked MC officials to release their salaries and give them another chance besides fixing technical glitches in the watches

Intervening on behalf of more than 250 employees of the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC), who were marked absent and their salaries withheld for May, the MC sanitation committee on Wednesday asked the MC officials to release their pending dues.

After nearly a year of disuse, the MC in April this year had finally decided that the attendance marked through the watches will be linked with staff salaries from May onwards. (HT FILE PHOTO)

The employees, which include regular, contractual and outsourced staff, were marked absent as they couldn’t be tracked through the GPS-enabled wrist watches, which are mandatory for MC employees to wear. Nearly 80 of those marked absent are members of the sanitation staff.

The employee salaries were withheld earlier too, on account of not wearing the watches, but the dues were released with a warning for the future. The sanitation committee, however, has asked the MC officials to give them another chance, adding that if there were any technical problems with the watches, these should be fixed. In case the employees are unable to use the watches properly, they should be taught the best ways to do so, they have added.

Employees have complained of glitches in the watches, particularly in showing the correct location. Failure to recharge the watches is another issue raised by the employees.

The linking of attendance with the live location of staffers, as shown on the GPS-enabled watches, has been a controversial issue for the civic body. While the councillors have favoured a more lenient stance, the MC officials, including MC commissioner KK Yadav, have insisted on mandatory use of the watches to improve employee efficiency.

After nearly a year of disuse, the MC in April this year had finally decided that the attendance marked through the watches will be linked with staff salaries from May onwards. But now with the sanitation committee again pushing for release of salaries to employees who couldn’t be traced through the watches, the old dispute is likely to be raised again.

The MC spends more than ₹2 crore annually as rent for the watches, which are used to track more than 4,000 employees to deal with complaints of non-present staff. “We will ensure that the salaries are disbursed on the basis of the live locations of the wrist watches. This was the decision of the MC General House and we will implement it in toto unless suggested otherwise by the House,” said an MC official.