Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today informed the state Legislative Council that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will be asked to implement the biometric attendance system for conservancy staff, who are working on a contractual basis.
During the Question Hour, Janardhan Chandurkar (Congress) asked the government if it was planning to implement mechanical sweeping and biometric system to keep a check on conservancy workers.
"If the government is indeed planning to implement mechanical sweeping in place of conservancy workers, what about the jobs of people already doing the work. The government needs to come out with an alternate scheme to safeguard their jobs," he said.
Responding to the query, Fadnavis said there is no proposal to implement mechanical sweeping instead of manual labour.
"As far as biometric attendance system is concerned, we have already introduced it in one zone and will introduce it in other areas as well," he said.
On the issue of conservancy workers losing their jobs, Fadnavis said, "There will be no layoffs. But thinking about the future and increasing population, we have to think of ways in which we can use new technology to enhance the quality of manual work."
He added that it has been noticed that since conservancy workers get a good salary, they tend to give 25 per cent of it to a dummy worker and 10 per cent to a senior officer to let the dummy work in place of the actual person.
Ashok Jagtap (Congress) then said that this nexus of fake workers has to be stopped and asked if the government will implement the biometric system for contractual employees as well.
In response, Fadnavis said, "The BMC will be directed to use the biometric attendance system for contractual workers as well."
While replying to a supplementary query of Hemant Takle (NCP), Fadnavis said these conservancy workers will be included in the state government's Skill Development Programme so that their efficiency can be increased.
