Surat Municipal Corporation employee unions to protest biometric attendance system

There are 20 active unions of over 22,000 SMC employees and workers.

A steering committee comprising presidents and secretaries of all SMC unions organised a meeting on Saturday. Keeping in mind the pros and cons of the biometric system and related issues of workers and employees, the steering committee decided to oppose the directive.

Steering committee head Ikbal Shaikh said, “We are opposing it on some grounds… There are many SMC employees coming from districts like Bharuch and Valsad and they travel through road or rail routes to reach the office. If somebody comes 15 minutes late, their half-day salary will be deducted, but if somebody works even after duty hours, they will not be compensatedSMC commissioner Banchhani-dhi Pani . should clarify this. We are not against the biometric system but some of the rules.”

“In today’s meeting, we decided to carry out a single-day dharna outside the head office in Muglishara on Monday, starting from 10 am to 6 pm. At 6.30 pm, we will organise an all-employees meeting at the main gate of the office,” he added.

Pani told The Indian Express, “When it was earlier rolled out for a month, it was observed that out of 22,000 employees, around 5,000 remained absent for many days. There are a few employees who didn’t come to office for one-and-a-half months, and we dismissed them. If somebody comes late, they have to give an explanation in writing. Some employees also have a habit of leaving office early without informing anybody. The system has been implemented to put tabs on such employees. If a problem is genuine, we will try to sort it out. And those who have been working at SMC for a long time and come from far away places, should make arrangements for their stay in the city.”