With various complaints of manipulation with regard to the thumb biometric machine amongst civic officials of various rankings and to ensure better accountability, the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) is planning to adapt a face recognition device as a part of the biometric attendance system.

The civic body has invited bids for the same and has plans of installing the system in December 2013. However, the installation will take place in two phases; in the first phase, 17 units will be installed at the TMC headquarters in Panchpakhadi area and the nine ward offices. If this system proves to be successful, other civic buildings will also adapt the system.

The systems will keep track of the entry and exit time of each employee and will help mitigate false attendance or tampering of the thumb machines. This is expected to improve the delivery of various services to offices having public interfaces. The device collects and consolidates data, while also recognising the retina and face structure to mark attendance. According to sources, it will be sim- based and will have complete wireless connectivity.