Bhubaneswar: The Commissionerate police’s bid to enforce punctuality and curb absenteeism of police personnel by introducing biometric attendance system at all police stations in the city is not yielding the desired results. Reason: the biometric machines have become defunct at several outposts.
The biometric machines were installed in all the police stations a year ago. However, sources said the machines have stopped functioning about two months ago, encouraging some cops to leave the workplace at their own sweet will.
Reportedly, biometric attendance machines installed at police stations such as Kharvel Nagar, Sahid Nagar, Khandagiri, Mancheswar, Chandrasekharpur, Nayapalli, Capital Police station and Mahila Police station are lying in a defunct state.
Their non-functioning comes at a time when the police commissioner and deputy commissioner of police had also asked the station in-charges to keep tabs on the attendance of every personnel through biometric attendance marking.
Sources alleged that some unscrupulous elements have made them defunct while the station in-charges remain mute onlookers. It is also alleged that, station in-charges, despite being aware of the irregularities, do nothing to make the machines functional. Sources in the police department said, “Many projects introduced by the Commissionerate police barely stay operational for about two months. As the biometric scanner has now become defunct, some indisciplined personnel come to the stations at their own will and walk out after marking their attendance on a manual register.”
When asked, Bhubaneswar DCP Satyabrata Bhoi said, “The biometric attendance system has been made mandatory for personnel on night patrol duty. But the attendance is yet to be implemented for personnel, who work during the day hours from 6am to 7pm.”
Due to lack of proper maintenance, the biometric machines have become non-operational and they will be made functional very soon, Bhoi added.
PNN
