Metro workers in Bengaluru hop stations to log in on biometric systems
BENGALURU: Imagine marking your office attendance at a different location and then heading to another place to work. This has been the ritual followed by hundreds of employees attached to Operations and Maintenance (O & M) wing of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL). A hearing against this system is due in a week’s time.
The biometric attendance machines were originally installed at 31 out of 41 Metro stations of Phase-I. These were, however, brought down to eight locations in November 2016.
Bangalore Metro Rail Employees Union had filed a case with the Central Labour Commission the same month it was introduced. “This is harassment. So we took the legal route. The next hearing is on September 8,” said Union vice-president Suryanarayana Murthy.The machines are in Kempe Gowda Metro station, Mysore Road, Mantri Square Sampige Road, Peenya and Baiyappanahalli Metro stations, two depots at Baiyappanahalli and Peenya. A total of 900 O & M staff work across all Metro stations.
“An operations staffer at Cubbon Park station, who must report at 6am, has to rush before the shift commences to the nearest station, to register attendance. Anyone late by more than 5 minutes is considered absent The same is the case after the shift,” Murthy said.“Biometric machines at most stations was functioning since the launch of Metro services in 2011. There was no need for such a drastic change in attendance system,” he said.Express wanted to get BMRCL’s stance on the issue. However, Metro Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola did not respond to calls or messages.
Asked about the rationale behind Metro’s move to introduce it, Murthy said, “BMRCL had told the Commission that there was some misuse of these machines by the employees. So, to keep a strict tab on these machines, their number has been brought down.” But that is not true, he claimed.