Experts Fault Ghmc For Renting Biometric Devices | Hyderabad News

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation

HYDERABAD: Though the GHMC spends 1.2 crore annually to get biometric devices on rent and another 5 lakh on their maintenance, corporation workers say they are faulty and often result in unfair pay cuts.
Technical experts said the GHMC would be saving a lot by purchasing the devices instead of renting them which is costing more for the municipal corporation.
The portable biometric devices with fingerprint recognition, which cost around 15,000 each, are used for recording the attendance of sanitation workers. Official sources said that outsourced employees get paid for maintenance of these devices and their salaries add up to another 30 lakh in the civic body’s expenditure.
Experts said the biometric devices will cost 1.5 crore. “Considering the number (1,050) of devices the GHMC uses, it should cost 1.5 crore as a one-time investment. This will save a lot of money for the corporation’s exchequer,” K Ramesh, a tech consultant, told TOI.
There are about 18,500 sanitation workers across GHMC limits and 954 sanitation field assistants (SFA) to supervise them. Each of the 30 circles has been given 30 biometric devices and five more are added in case of technical glitches.
It may be recalled a major biometric attendance fraud came to light three weeks ago when GHMC officials lodged two separate complaints against the SFAs at Chaderghat and Abids police stations.
They alleged that the accused SFAs were using duplicate fingerprints of absentee sanitation workers to record their attendance using the fingerprint scanner. Both the police department and the enforcement and vigilance wing of GHMC conducted investigations and recovered 21 synthetic fingerprints from SFAs.
The probe has revealed that each of the three arrested SFAs was making 30,000 extra per month at the expense of the GHMC. The scam was going on since 2018, resulting in huge losses to the civic body. “After the recent instance of biometric fraud, we have received a report from the enforcement wing issuing some recommendations. We will do a cost-benefit analysis in the next review meeting soon,” a senior GHMC IT wing official said.