NMMC gives smart watches to 1,000 staffers, to keep eye on them

The GPS (global positioning system) enabled software will help monitor employees from the civic body headquarters at Belapur.

Civic employees who skip work will now be under scanner. The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has given 1,000 smart watches to its employees under a pilot project of geo-fencing and tracking system.

Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (HT File)

The GPS (global positioning system) enabled software will help monitor employees from the civic body headquarters at Belapur.

NMMC has created a four-member team to monitor the system’s functioning. A total of 1,000 staffers in Belapur ward have been given watches.

The project will cost the civic body ₹11.51 crore with each watch priced at ₹315.

There are around 5,700 employees working on contract basis. The watch is equipped with GPS and camera among other things. Once employees wear it after reporting for duty, they cannot remove it till office hours are over. If the watch is removed or given to someone else, it will be immediately notified through the system.

The watch will give details of work duration. If the employee goes out of the work area, they will be intimated through a message. If one ignores this, he/she will be asked to take a picture using the camera in the watch and send it to the headquarters.

Suresh Patil, 41, a civic employee, said it was a good initiative. “There is nothing to get upset about it, if you are doing your job properly,” he said.