Tangedco directs power stations to install biometric system for recording attendance

“In order to improve the efficiency and to maintain an efficient management of premises, the chief engineers and superintending engineers of all the thermal power station, gas turbine stations and hydro stations of generation wing are instructed to install biometric system to maintain the attendance of Tangedco officers and employees,” said a memo issued by the Tangedco. It asked the officials to implement the instructions on or before July 1.

A senior Tangedco official said the decision to install biometric attendance system was taken to ensure the workers turn up on time. “It will help monitor the workers’ attendance and improve the efficiency of the workforce,” the official said, adding that all the power stations have been registered as a factory under the Factories Act, 1948.

An office bearer of the Central Organisation of Tamil Nadu Electricity Employees (COTEE) said that the enforcement of the biometric attendance system was a welcome move. “It will prevent the office bearers of the AIADMK and the DMK unions from bunking work. In many power plants, the office bearers of these unions give miss to their work after signing attendance,” the COTEE said.

The office bearers of the unions must take permission from the concerned authorities for taking one-hour off from to attend to the issues of workers, but not daily.

“The AIADMK and the DMK affiliated union office bearers will not attend to their work on a daily basis,” a COTEE office-bearer said, adding that the biometric attendance would help discipline the workforce and ensure that they come to work on time.