The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will from Tuesday collect and store “facial recognition” details of its employees posted in the civic headquarters on SN Banerjee Road.
The details will be stored and linked to the ID numbers of the employees.
Once the databank is ready, the KMC will install cameras at all gates.
All employees have to stop in front of a camera for a few seconds while entering office and the attendance will be marked. While leaving, too, they will have to stand in front a camera to record the time of their exit.
Mayor Firhad Hakim had earlier spoken about the introduction of a system to electronically record the attendance of employees. Hakim had said this could stop the entry of touts into the civic headquarters.
Sources said the system would also help KMC bosses better monitor the entry and exit of the employees.
At present all employees in the civic headquarters are required to sign in a book as evidence of their attendance.
“We will start enrolment of facial recognition details of KMC employees on Tuesday. The process will start with employees posted in the KMC headquarters,” said a senior KMC official.
“This will not be the start of electronic recording of attendance, but the start of the process that will lead to electronic recording.”
Around 3,500 employees work in the civic headquarters. “The facial recognition details of all of them will be collected,” the official said.
“We plan to complete the enrolment in about 20 days and start electronic recording of attendance in August.”
Sources said there are also plans to streamline the entry of visitors and keep an electronic record of them. But that will come at a later stage.
“We have not yet set any date by when we will start keeping electronic records of visitors,” the official said.
Officials said the electronic record of attendance would later be linked to the number of leave an employee takes.
The electronic records will help prevent the entry of touts into the KMC, said officials. At present many outsiders with no official work at the civic headquarters enter the premises.
“There are guards at the gates but they do not ask everyone entering the compound the reason for their visit. Also, the guards often fail to distinguish between an employee and an outsider. Once the electronic recording of attendance starts, it will be easier to distinguish between the two,” an official said.
