Thiruvananthapuram: Government employees who shirk work alienate the public and thereby spoil the image of the State regime. In a bid to ensure that the employees don't play truant, biometric punching system will be introduced in all Kerala Government offices before March 31. This will help detect the late arrivals and early leaving of employees, among other benefits.

Chief Secretary V P Joy issued a directive in this regard, which also stipulates that all district collectorates, directorates, and office of department heads should implement the attendance recording system before January 1 and link the same to the software SPARK (Service and Payroll Administrative Repository for Kerala).

The Chief Secretary has also directed that each department should entrust the Additional Secretary or Joint Secretary to monitor the proper functioning of the punching system.

Though the measure, aimed at preventing employees from leaving the office during working hours, was proposed to be implemented several times, the same couldn’t be done so far due to the interference of employee organizations.

Currently, the biometric punching system is efficiently functioning only at the Kerala Government Secretariat. Soon, it will be introduced in all the Government, Semi-Government, Local Self-Government, and institutions receiving government grant.

Access control at Secretariat
An access control system will be introduced in the Secretariat from January 1 in a move aimed at monitoring and restricting the movements of employees and visitors. One can enter or leave the building only by swiping cards at the entry points.