DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Tank deputy commissioner Hameedullah Khattak on Thursday inaugurated a new biometric system at the tehsil municipal administration`s offices to check the attendance of staff members by fingerprints and facial images.

He said the pilot project was meant to crack down on ghost employees and absentees and it would also help improve service delivery by the municipality.

The DC said the system would be introduced in all government officesafterwards.

He said the initiative was taken after an inspection team detected scores of ghost employees in government departments and absenteeism in schools, hospitals and several other offices.

Mr Khattak said the new attendance system would identify more absentee government employees.

He said in most cases, employees absented themselves from duty for a long period without obtaining formal leave with their colleagues signingthe daily attendance register on their behalf.

The DC said the TMA had 380 employees and huge funds on its disposal but its performance regarding service delivery was pathetic.

`This fingerprint and face recognition devices will check attendance of staff members at the time of arrival and departure,` he said.

He said the organisation`s head would receive attendance sheets by email for action against absentee employees.

KILLED: A man killed his cousin and committed suicide in Mohallah Hazrat Bilal here on Wednesday night.

Spokesman for the police Syed Yaqoob Bukhari told Dawn that Mohammad Qadir, 25, killed his cousin by firing in the latter`s Diyal Road house before shooting himself down.

He said the police shifted the bodies to the district headquarters hospital for postmortem.

The spokesman said the incident occurred over a marriage dispute.

He said the police had begun the investigation after registering a case.