Govt offices to resume biometric attendance from today

Employees have been directed to follow a host of preventive measures while marking their attendance, including sanitising their hands before and after the process, and maintaining a distance of six feet while doing so.

Biometric attendance in government offices will resume from Monday, after being discontinued due to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. The directions in this regard were issued by the Ministry of Personnel, through its Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), on November 1.

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The DoPT, in its latest office memorandum, said that the responsibility to ensure compliance with Covid-19 protocols will be with the heads of departments, adding that sanitisers should be mandatorily placed near biometric machines. “Employees should sanitise their hands before and after marking their attendance, and maintain a distance of six feet while doing so. If required, additional machines should be installed to avoid overcrowding,” the order read.

Staff members are also required to wear face masks at all times, including while marking their attendance. Also, designated personnel should be deployed to near the biometric system to clean or wipe the touchpad or scanner areas of the scanners frequently.

The memorandum further called for natural ventilation to be maintained, also directing offices to undertake orientation of employees on various precautionary measures to be followed. “Meetings, as far as possible, will continue to take place via video conferencing. Personal meetings with visitors, unless necessary in public interest, should be avoided,” it said.

This fresh DoPT order overrides a department order from June 14, which continued suspension of the biometric system. Under the previous order, it issued instructions to regulate the attendance of the central government employees with reduced staff, staggered timings and exemption to certain categories of employees from attending offices.

(With agency inputs)