The Revenue Department will introduce punching system for its 300 employees at the collectorate on Monday. Accordingly, five punching machines have been installed at convenient locations. The initiative aims at replacing the manual method of registering attendance.
Additional District Magistrate T. Janilkumar said the punching machines and cards were prepared by the Public Works Department (PWD). Around ₹5 lakh was spent on the project, he added.
“The purpose of doing away with the manual method is to make employees more accountable, besides ensuring punctuality. All offices at the collectorate will independently introduce the system soon,” he told The Hindu on Sunday. “We have 118 offices at the collectorate, and the plan is to cover them all in a phased manner under the modern attendance registering system,” said Mr. Janilkumar.
Meanwhile, random checking of the machines and cards was conducted on Saturday. Frequent late arrivals will be viewed seriously, and every three late arrivals will be marked as a casual leave, officials said.
The Revenue Department had been working on the system for more than five months.
The entire expense of the project was met by the department. Officials said the electronic punching system would be introduced in all departments at their own cost and without any special aid from the government.