Yogi Adityanath wants biometric attendance system installed in Uttar Pradesh government offices up to block level

If there is one chief minister who is consciously shaking things up, it’s Uttar Pradesh’s Yogi Adityanath. From banning illegal slaughterhouses, introducing anti-Romeo squads, striking at security cover for over 100 VIPs in the state, pushing open Yoga centres in all districts, and inking a 24x7 power supply deal with the Centre, Adityanath, the saffron-clad chief minister, has been changing the way things work. He has now put in place a biometric attendance system in offices up to the block level. The chief minister’s move is to ensure that all government employees reach work on time. Adityanath’s instructions came during a meeting with officials from the rural development department late on Saturday night. According to www.attendance.gov.in, a central government initiative that tracks attendance in government offices using the Aadhar biometric shows up some statistics about in-times of government officials. The biometric system was launched in 2014 in all central government offices in New Delhi. According to a government official quoted in a Mail Online report, the average time the registered employees were present in office has risen by 20 minutes per day. Jharkhand already has an attendance tracking system in place. It was launched in January 2014 and tracks 34,000 employees across 69 departments and 24 districts. In Uttar Pradesh, Adityanath has said, “Efforts should be made to ensure that a biometric system of attendance is installed upto the block level. Apart from this, a board be put up at every village panchayat, which will have information about contact details of the village pradhan and details of the ongoing works.” The chief minister said that the targets of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana should be achieved. All works pertaining to registration, uploading of photographs and approval of housing units for 5.73 lakh families eligible under this scheme must be completed at the earliest. “The Centre will be requested to incorporate eligible families, which have been left out,” he said. Emphasising on transparency in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (MNREGS), Adityanath said that active workers should be linked with Aadhaar-based payment system. The chief minister also sought information about the National Rural Drinking Water Programme, the World Bank-aided ‘Neer Nirmal’ and Rajya Grameen Payjal Yojana among other schemes. “Apart from Bundelkhand, piped water supply schemes should be implemented in other parts of the state. To address the problems of drinking water scarcity in Bundelkhand, repair works pertaining to hand-pumps along with re-boring should be done,” Adityanath said. He also said that 160 piped water supply schemes in 31 districts should be completed to ensure water supply. “Installation of new hand-pumps and re-boring of existing hand-pumps under the quota of MLAs and MLCs should be completed after taking their consent,” he said. He also directed that Samagra Gram Vikas Department be merged with Rural Development department.