A biometric and camera surveillance system introduced at the metro water headquarters in Chintadripet to keep tabs on errant staff in mid-2010 by then managing director Shiv Das Meena remains dysfunctional for over a year now.
The surveillance camera installed on the ground floor of the headquarters office, is nothing more than a relic today.
The two systems were introduced on a trial basis to crackdown on staff reporting late to duty and returning home early besides those evading duty by leaving the office in the pretext of field duty.
The metro water headquarters was among the very few government offices like KK Nagar RTO office, where biometric system was put in place to monitor employees’ movement and functioning.
The camera system in particular was proof of the gravity of the situation as the video footage recorded in the camera on the ground floor could be viewed from the MD’s chamber on the first floor.
However, the system failed to take off, apparently, giving a free run to a few errant staff to evade duty. Authorities had great difficulty in tracking staff movement owing to maintenance work and field supervision, officials concerned admitted adding that few employees use this operational difficulty to evade work.
Later, a geo-fencing system was introduced to monitor sewer lines, particularly to control sewer overflow, kept a check on area engineers as it was made mandatory for them to photograph the level of sewage wells in the pumping stations and upload them into the system.