SPARK website a bundle of errors

KOCHI:  Karipur police station in Malappuram district comes under the jurisdiction of Ernakulam police and there are only two Assistant Police Commissioners in Kochi city police!This may sound strange for police personnel but it is true according to the government of Kerala website www.spark.gov.in The website of the Service and Payroll Administrative Repository for Kerala (SPARK), which enables the government employees to enrol their salary records and service records, has made it difficult for the police personnel to submit their salary bills.According to a top police official, the website has been created carelessly and many police stations in Palakkad and Wayanad districts have been included under the jurisdiction of Ernakulam police. “The website was developed without any sense. The details of many police officials like Assistant Commissioners and DySPs are not included on the website. They are unable to submit their salary bills as these posts are declared vacant on the website. The police stations in Malabar region are listed in Ernakulam, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram regions. The site has also listed many police stations which do not exist,” he said. “The brunt part of the issue is that the Treasury Department will stop receiving the salary bills through their offices and will accept the bills which are submitted only through the SPARK website. The officials are also not given any training to use the website.” he said. However, the state IT Mission officials said that the website is not being regularly used by the government officials. “Though the website has been functional for the past two years, only a few employees use it. Since the government has made it mandatory for its employees, we will rectify the mistakes within a few days,” an IT mission official said.SPARK is an integrated personnel, payroll and accounts information system which helps in getting the details of an employee easily and ensures a higher level of transparency in matters related to the employees.Each government employee is allotted a unique permanent employee number (PEN) and they can submit their bills of salary and other benefits using PEN.