THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: All district collectorates, directorates and offices of department heads have been strictly asked to implement the SPARK-based biometric punching systems before January 1. The new system will help in prompt marking of late arrivals and leaves. In all other government offices, the biometric system has to be implemented latest by March next year.
Chief Secretary V P Joy issued the directive in the wake of the delay in the implementation of the project. “Detailed guidelines had been issued for implementing the system in all government and semi-government organisations, autonomous institutions as well as grants-in-aid institutions.
However, there has been no satisfactory progress,” Joy said in the order. The progress of the project’s implementation will be reviewed during the chief secretary’s monthly meeting with secretaries of various departments.
Each department has already been asked to assign an additional secretary or joint secretary to monitor the implementation process in its offices. The designated officer’s details should be communicated to the general administration department. SPARK is the service and payroll repository for close to five lakh government employees. The biometric punching system had been implemented in the Secretariat in January 2018. The original target was to extend the system to all government offices by November 2018.