BMC officials playing truant for plum posting to lose salary

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials who campaign for plum posting, yet do not resume work when given a transfer order will not receive their salaries. The civic administration is developing a mechanism to make officials — who are on leave —join duty at their new postings.

The civic chief has directed the general administration to develop a mechanism so that if employees do not report at work within 15 days of receiving the transfer order issued by the city engineer, their salaries will be blocked. Changes will be made in the biometric attendance accordingly.

According to a senior civic official, some officials do not report at work when handed over a new posting. "This affects the overall work culture of the corporation," said the official. He added that the city authority will now make changes in their biometric attendance system and after a change in posting, employees will have to mark themselves present at their new offices.

"As per the direction, if employees do not join duty within 15 days and mark themselves present at their new offices, their payment will be blocked automatically," the official said.

The civic body made biometric attendance mandatory for its employees from November 1, after a three-month-long pause. The body even suspended 12 sweepers in the A ward in Cuffe Parade, Colaba, Fort and Churchgate area for providing fake attendance. During a surprise visit, the BMC found that these sweepers marked themselves present but, were missing from work.

Earlier, the biometric attendance system was stopped for three months after complaints of technical glitches. Salaries of many employees, of doctors in the KEM Hospital, were not being credited properly.

In March 2018, salaries of 4,500 medical staff of the KEM Hospital were affected due to glitches in the biometric system. Following this, nurses and paramedical staff went on a strike that severely affected medical services. They demanded that attendance should not be made biometric.

However, the civic body decided to provide one machine for every 20 staff. One machine was set aside for emergencies if in case, the installed one stopped working.