The Centre has decided to resume biometric attendance for employees of all levels from November 8 which was suspended for more than one and half year due to the corona pandemic. The Department of Personnel Ministry notified that it would be the responsibility of heads of department to ensure that sanitisers are mandatorily placed beside biometric machines and all employees sanitise their hands before and after marking the attendance.
“Physical distancing of six feet must be maintained by all employees while marking their attendance. If required, additional biometric attendance machines may be installed to avoid overcrowding,” the Personnel Ministry said in an order to all Central Government Ministries and departments. The employees were previously exempted from biometric attendance due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
All employees shall be required to wear masks or face covers at all times, including while waiting to mark their attendance, it said. “Meetings, as far as possible, shall continue to be conducted on video conferencing and personal meetings with visitors, unless necessary in public interest, are to be avoided,” the order stated.
All officers and staff shall strictly follow Covid-appropriate behaviour at all times in offices, the DoPT said. In March 2020, DoPT had exempted employees from using the machine earlier till March 31 last year and asked the employees to mark their attendance in the attendance register.
“It is learnt that the most common method of transmission of virus seems to be through infected surfaces therefore, it is desirable to avoid touching surfaces, which might be infected due to human touch,” the first order of DoPT said suspending the biometric attendance.
The Aadhaar-based biometric attendance system was introduced at the instance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had claimed soon after that it had brought about a change in the work culture in the Government.