NALGONDA: Following complaints about officers and staff being unavailable during working hours, Nalgonda collectorate will enforce a facial-recognition attendance system across all departments from September 1.
According to District Collector B Chandrashekhar, this move is aimed at improving transparency and accountability. About 1,200 employees working in 45 departments within the collectorate will come under the new system, which applies to all personnel, from senior officials to security guards.
Officials said the ‘Mee-Pramanam’ mobile application, developed by the Telangana Information Technology, Electronics and Communications (ITE&C) department, will be used to monitor attendance and ensure that employees remain available to the public during working hours.
Using the free application, officers and staff must pre-register their personal details and facial features. They will have to mark their attendance daily within the office premises using their smartphones. The release of monthly salaries and other service bills will be linked to attendance recorded through the app.
The app uses geo-fencing, liveness detection and Aadhaar-linked facial recognition to prevent proxy attendance, officials said. Its offline feature will enable attendance marking even in areas with poor network connectivity.
Senior officials will also be able to monitor attendance through an integrated dashboard and web-based reporting system.
The administration expects the system, particularly the linking of salary disbursement to attendance, to improve punctuality and ensure faster delivery of public services.