The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has, through a request for proposals (RFP), invited bids from contractors for the introduction of facial recognition biometrics for recording attendance at all levels.
Describing it as an ‘artificial intelligence driven mobile based facial-recognition biometric attendance management system’, the RFP document stated, among the objectives, prevention and control of the misuse of manual attendance and other biometric attendance capture systems and introduction of transparency and accountability in operations.
Currently, the GHMC is using Aadhaar-based biometric attendance system, under which attendance is captured by authenticating fingerprints using Aadhaar-enabled hand held device.
Fingerprint biometrics were being used for marking the attendance of sanitation workers on the field, too. Several instances of fraud emerged over the years, whereby fingerprint moulds were used to mark the attendance of sanitation workers and siphon off funds. This has necessitated a foolproof system to ensure attendance of the staff.
During the recent general body meeting and budget session of the GHMC, several corporators complained that the sanitation teams in their respective areas were insufficient and that not even 50% of the workers were in attendance on the streets at any given time.
The facial recognition system, once introduced, would apply to approximately 25,000 workers and staff, including sanitation and entomology field assistants and veterinary assistants.
A mobile application for all environments should be designed as part of the system, for use in existing mobiles or tabs or new devices in future, the RFP document said. The facial recognition should factor in liveness check in a geo-fenced area to rule out the possibility of using photographs and giving attendance from home or outside the assigned work area.
