The Public Works Department (PWD) is reportedly unhappy with its officers and the field staff for not marking the attendance through using the ‘PWD Online’ mobile application. The department has introduced online attendance system to monitor the presence and the daily activities of its staff and officers.
“It has been noticed that ‘PWD Online’ mobile app which was developed for use by the PWD officials and field staff is not being put to use by them,” read the notice by the Deputy Director (Screening-I), PWD.
Through the ‘PWD Online’ mobile application which is fitted with the Global Positioning System (GPS), an officer has to mark the attendance by taking a “selfie” using the front camera of their mobile. With this online attendance system, the higher officials can see the attendance of their subordinates. Official communiqué by the department provides the step-by-step directions on how to use the app and also the helpline for contact.
The Engineer in Chief of the PWD has asked all the field officers such as executive engineer, assistant engineer and junior engineer to download and use the application for marking their attendance.
“There is an option on mobile app as well as the web portal to view attendance of all personnel under the officer. History of any date can also be viewed. Even officials can mark multiple attendances in a day, to keep record of their daily activities. It is therefore requested that this process of marking attendance through PWD mobile app got initiated in all subordinate officer under your respective zones immediately,” stated the official circular.
“Yes, there was a notice about the online attendance system recently but the zones and subordinates as well as the field officers can only use the app, if they will get some idea or physical guidance to operate the application at least for one or two days. Without guidance and training it is not possible to initiate the system,” said an official.
However the PWD officers, especially the field officers for whom the ‘Online App’ is designed and developed are unaware about the introduction of any such system to mark attendance. Also, the officers, who knew about such implementation, do not know how to use the app.
“For the last two-three years, the officers have been marking their attendance through ‘Bio-Metric Attendance’ and further, recently there was an order from the department that all the vehicles used by the officers should install GPS system to stop the officers from using the government vehicles for personal use”, a senior official said.
“ We are not aware about this online attendance marking system. If the government is taking any such step, it will be very helpful to keep an eye on the field staffs as well as the staffs will also need not to travel long to the zones or subordinate offices to mark their attendance,” said another PWD official.