In a significant push for transparency and efficiency, the Mohali Municipal Corporation (MC) is set to roll out a new online attendance system that will require its field employees to upload real-time selfies from their duty locations. This move aims to tighten accountability and improve on-ground monitoring of work.
Selfies Replace Manual Registers for Attendance
The decision was announced by MC Commissioner Parminder Pal Singh during a recent house meeting. Currently, attendance for staff is recorded at the MC headquarters using Aadhaar-based biometric devices with facial recognition. However, to strengthen the monitoring of employees deployed outside the office, a dedicated mobile application will now be introduced.
Under this new mechanism, field staff will have to mark their attendance by uploading a selfie directly from their workplace through the MC-linked app. This initiative is designed to ensure transparency, track work progress in real time, and put a stop to unauthorised absenteeism.
How the New Tech-Driven System Will Work
The system will utilise AadhaarBAS/AadhaarFaceRD applications on smartphones, a model already operational in Chandigarh. This will completely replace the outdated manual attendance registers.
Salaries will be directly linked to the verified attendance, a step intended to eliminate the practice of proxy marking. Beyond just clocking in, employees will also be required to upload details of their work progress, allowing senior officials to monitor both attendance and performance simultaneously from a remote location.
Wide Coverage and Expected Impact
The new system will cover a wide range of employees, including all regular, contractual, outsourced, and sanitation workers. The MC expects this digital overhaul to yield multiple benefits:
- Identify and eliminate "ghost employees" from the payroll.
- Prevent manipulation of manual attendance records.
- Create a transparent and tamper-proof attendance tracking process.
- Significantly improve overall efficiency and public service delivery by ensuring employees are present at their assigned locations during work hours.
Commissioner Singh confirmed that once successfully implemented for field staff, the online attendance system will later be extended to other categories of employees within the corporation.
