The Land Ministry is launching the geofencing-based ‘Bhumidrishti’ mobile app on Thursday to monitor the attendance of officials and employees at field-level land offices.

Land Minister Mizanur Rahman Minu will formally launch the app at 11am at the Land Ministry’s meeting room at Bangladesh Secretariat. Senior Secretary A S M Saleh Ahmed will chair the event, while State Minister for Land Barrister Mir Mohammed Helal Uddin will attend as a special guest.

The ministry said the app will help build a people-friendly and corruption-free land administration through maximum use of technology.

By ensuring the attendance of field-level officials and employees, the app is expected to improve the delivery of land services and make it easier for people to access services.

Under the geofencing system, a designated geographical boundary will be set for each land office. Officials and employees will be able to mark their attendance or ‘check in’ through the app only when they are within the designated area.

The system will not allow attendance to be marked from outside the designated boundary.

Attendance information will be updated on a central dashboard immediately after check-in, enabling higher authorities to monitor the attendance status of different offices in real time.

The dashboard will automatically generate alerts if anyone tries to mark attendance from outside the designated area or attempts to use a fake location.

The app will also have a ‘site visit’ feature, allowing officials and employees to mention the reason for being outside their workplace for official duties or investigations.

Leave applications and leave records can also be managed through the app.

The pilot programme is currently underway at 610 offices in Dhaka, Gazipur, Narayanganj, Bogura, Rajshahi and Chattogram districts, initially covering 919 officials and employees.

If the pilot project proves successful, the app will gradually be expanded to all land offices at the divisional, district, upazila and union levels across the country.