The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) decision to start a biometric system to mark its employees' attendance has not gone down well with a few of them. One of them, Subhash Salve, a visually challenged social worker at KEM Hospital, has written a letter of complaint to the hospital's dean and also the BMC commissioner. Salve has been working as a community development officer (CDO) at the hospital since 1997. He says it's a struggle to mark the biometric attendance everyday and reach his desk on time. The biometric attendance machine is located in the main building, while his desk is located in a completely different building. Walking from one to the other takes up 5-10 minutes, but the head of his department marks him late if he is late even by that much. A resident of Sanpada, Salve takes the train till Sewri. And though he is completely blind, he works as a CDO to counsel patients and look after their healthcare services. "The biometric system isn't user-friendly for a person like me. With the help of other staff members, I fill this in. But the walk from the main building to my office takes me another four-five minutes. If there are patients and relatives, it may even take 10 minutes. But for this, I am marked as a latecomer everyday by the head of department. I have lost at least 15 CLs though I have worked every day," he said. Salve said he has been following up the matter with the higher authorities, but no action has yet been taken to help him. Dr Avinash Supe, dean of the KEM Hospital, said, "We have forwarded the complaint letter to HR. They will investigate this further. Steps will be taken once the HR starts its probe." Last week, Salve also wrote a formal letter of complaint to the dean of the hospital and also marked it to BMC commissioner Ajoy Mehta and the human rights commission.

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