To ensure promptness and discipline, the Uttarakhand medium, small and micro enterprise (MSME) department has introduced a biometric attendance system at its headquarters here.

The MSME employees association welcomed the move and asked the government to replicate it in all the other departments - which had been plagued by poor attendance and indiscipline.

Within a week after the system was introduced, the employees' attendance has zoomed up to 96 per cent from the 60-70 per cent recorded earlier. "We have started the biometric attendance system among our employees as part of self-regulation," said Sudhir Nautiyal, additional director MSME. "It helps us in keeping a tab on their login time and reduce absenteeism," he said. Significantly, the public-private partnership cell in the state government has tried to introduce the biometric attendance system for government teachers, but the move was resisted by politicians under pressure from various employees' associations.

However, experts noted that a biometric system works effectively for those with fixed working hours. It may not be the perfect thing for people who do field work.

Employees reporting late to work and leaving early have been a big problem in MSME department. Once the biometric system of registering attendance is ready, an employee entering or leaving the premises will have to press his thumb in a designated slot. From the fingerprint, the system identifies the person and records the timing of arrival and departure.

"But our biometric attendance system has found favours with all the employees," said Nautiyal.