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Bengal introduces attendance registers to improve image, lure investors

Arup Chanda in Calcutta

In a bid to send the right signals to foreign and non-resident Indian investors and achieve industrial rejuvenation, attendance registers have been introduced at the West Bengal state Secretariat in Calcutta.

These will checked daily by ministers, following a directive from West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu.

West Bengal had gained notoriety following large-scale abstentions from office work and a generally bad work culture among state government employees. It is believed several project proposals of NRIs and foreign investors were shelved because of the indifferent attitude of employees.

Now, if they shirk work, they will be punished. Most of the employees belong to the Communist Party of India-Marxist-controlled State Coordination Committee of Government Employees which has a membership of over one million.

State information minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya said, "Those who perform will be rewarded. But at the same time those who do not work or create indiscipline will be punished. We will soon take a decision to implement this."

The SCCGE is a powerful organisation. No bureaucrat or even ministers could dare book its members, even when they violated the code of conduct for employees.

As the chief ministers of other states vied to attract foreign investment, and as McKinsey and Company presented a report on what needs to be done to industrialise the state, the Basu government has finally taken notice.

The recent Raichak summit where Basu and industry captains interacted freely, was a turning point. The government declared that trade unionism would not be allowed to create hurdles to Bengal's development, given the government's Rs 600-million wage bill.

Unlike in the past when the employee unions blamed poor work culture on the bureaucracy, the SCCGE recently adopted a resolution to evolve a system of punishment for non-productive employees.

"The government is struggling under a Rs 600-million wage bill and would need another Rs 200-million. It is good that you will get more pay. But you should keep in mind that your responsibilities have increased. You are working not only for yourselves but also for the people," Basu told the employees recently.

Basu recalled that a few years ago it was decided that all ministers would go through the attendance registers in their departments. "I do not know how many actually did it. I personally had gone through attendance registers sometimes".

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West Bengal