Punjab Government would soon have biometric attendance devices in all State Government offices in Chandigarh and the districts to ensure punctuality and discipline amongst Government employees.

The decision was made by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Saturday at a Sangat Darshan function in New Delhi. This was the first such programme in the national Capital where an attempt was made to solve the grievances on the spot.

Resolving a plaint regarding deficient presence of some officers of Revenue Department, Badal directed Punjab Chief Secretary to prepare a detailed proposal for installation of Biometric Attendance System in all Punjab offices. He assured the complainants that the government would complete this project on priority to avert the harassment being faced by general public in future. He said that the biometric devices would be linked with a centralised control room to keep record of employee timings.

The Deputy CM said department heads would monitor the function of devices at headquarter while Deputy Commissioners would be responsible for same at district levels.

On the maintenance of Dhanis besides providing basic amenities there, Badal announced that the state was preparing a policy to facilitate the residents of Dhanis with uninterrupted power supply and other basic amenities. He also said that the canals flowing beside the villages would be cleansed regularly before the season so the farmers could use the water so available for irrigation purpose. For this, the State was contemplating a policy under which a committee would be formed in each district comprising Executive Engineers of Irrigation Department and local residents and farmers.

Badal also directed the heads of all departments, Divisional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, Police Commissioners, Senior Superintendents of Police, Senior Power and Revenue officers to hear public grievances besides ensuring timely justice delivery. He said all concerned authority should resolve the public plaints within a week reducing the pendency of complaints.

He resolved 377 complaints on the spot out of total 417. Reports have been sought from authorities concerned in rest of the cases. The complaints were pertaining to Revenue, Police, Electricity, Irrigation, PWD, Panchayats and local Bodies department.Badal asked the people to come forward with their relevant issues, if any, in Sangat Darshan programmes so that efficiency and functioning of public offices could be scrutinised.