Citing coronavirus threat, UP govt exempts employees from marking biometric attendance

The Uttar Pradesh government has exempted its employees from using the biometric system to mark their attendance till March 31 in view of coronavirus, an official said on Saturday. Employees will mark their attendance in registers till that date, Additional Chief Secretary (Secretariat Administration) Mahesh Kumar Gupta told PTI.

"Taking cognisance of an office memorandum of the department of personnel and training (government of India), pertaining to the nature of the spread of the coronavirus, all employees have been exempted from using the biometric attendance system till March 31," he said "The biometric attendance system is fingerprint device, and functions on touch," Gupta said "Till the said date (March 31), all employees have been directed to use attendance registers to mark their attendance," he said The Central government has asked all its ministries and departments to exempt their employees from marking biometric attendance till March 31. In an official release, the department of personnel and training (DoPT) has stated that as coronavirus is most commonly transmitted through infected surfaces, all central government employees may be refrained from using this mode of marking attendance.

This step is seen as an attempt to mitigate the chances of infection arising out of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease), it said. Officials have been asked to mark their attendance in registers during this period, the DoPT said in its release..