Now, postboxes on rent for 150/year

CHENNAI: To popularise the use of postboxes among IT employees, India Post, in association with Nasscom, will on June 10 launch an 'Own Your Post Box' scheme for 150 per year at the Tidel Park post office.

Postmaster general for Chennai City Region Mervin Alexander said India Post is launching the scheme since many IT companies refuse to accept letters and parcels for their employees. Hundreds of letters and articles sent by speed post to IT companies in are being returned daily as companies do not have the means to distribute the items to staff, he noted.

Postboxes are already available on rent in certain post offices for fully pre-paid unregistered mail, like inland letter cards, post cards, aerogrammes, newspapers and books but there is little awareness about this. The tie-up with Nasscom is expected to increase the number of users.

Nasscom senior director K Purushottam said, "This will enable IT pros to use India Post services effectively."

The scheme will also boost the safety of women employees, said Alexander. "Some postmen are not given any respect by IT companies and return without delivering letters. We urge all employees, especially women, to make use the scheme," he said

President conveys his appreciation and admiration for India’s unparalleled postal network

President conveys his appreciation and admiration for India’s unparalleled postal network

Shri Pranab Mukherjee, the President of India held a meeting with Shri Ravishankar Prasad, Minister for Communications and IT at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on 20th May 2016, in which the central topic of discussion was the ongoing transformation of the postal network. The President enquiredabout the modernisation project, and was happy to learn about how the induction of IT was making service delivery at post offices contemporary. He also used the occasion to convey his fondness and admiration for the postal network to the postal staff, through the Minister.

File photo of President Mukherjee with Minister Prasad at a stamp release function in October 2014. 

Details of this interaction with the President were revealed by Shri Prasad himself, during his keynote address on 22nd May 2016, at the Conference of the Heads of Postal Circles at Hyderabad.

There have been a few other occasions in the past also when the Department has had the opportunity to benefit from President Mukherjee words of guidance and came in for praise from him. While inaugurating an international postal event at New Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan in 2013, he had commended the unparalleled network of the Post Office and advised that there is a huge scope for postal services to be engaged in e-commerce, and that it should capitallise on the rising demand for such business products. On that occasion, he had also highlighted the need to move with the times, and said that globalization and easier movement of workforce across nations have opened a great window of opportunity for the postal sector in parcel and money remittance businesses. Further, he had emphasised that worldwide, postal administrations enjoy the trust of people and advised that the Post Office must leverage this and other strengths to provide improved quality of service to the people.

Inauguration of the new building of the Rashtrapati Bhavan PO in July 2014. 

It is no surprise then that hearing from the Minister about developments like the networking of post offices, postal savings coming on a CBS platform and the Post Office preparing to set up a Payments Bank would have been a matter of satisfaction for him. Hissending a message a message to the postal staff through the Minister is a rare gesture, which is sure to inspire them to higher standards of service delivery.

The words of appreciation from the President represent the increasing significance of the Postal network in the national mainstream and in public perception. With it also comes a higher responsibility for the management and staff of India Post, the responsibility of living up to the expectations of the country’s First Citizen.

POST OFFICES WORKING IN RENTED / TEMPORARY BUILDINGS LS - Q&A

POST OFFICES WORKING IN RENTED / TEMPORARY BUILDINGS LOK SABHA- Q&A

Avoiding use of bottled water during meetings, conferences, workshops etc.

Surat post offices run out of cheque books, hundreds suffer

Senior citizen Darayas Modi has been doing rounds of the nearby post office for last 10 days to withdraw his fixed deposit money for some household work. But every time he is told that post office is out of cheque books, hence it cannot issue cheques.

This is not an isolated case. As many as 33 post offices in Surat don't have the stock of cheque books and as a result hundreds of account holders are not able to withdraw from their own accounts. The department of post's reply on the issue is that they have made requisition to the head office, but are yet to receive the stock.

Another account holder with department of post, Lalji Patel, from Vesu too has been facing the same problem while wanting to encash his investment made in Kisan Vikas Patra.

Surat postal department is the richest department in terms of revenue earning in whole of Vadodara division of Indian Postal services. It has deposits and balance of more than Rs 1,400 crore with 7.16 lakh account holders of different kind which is higher than the accounts with city's State Bank of India. Nanpura Post office with 33 sub-offices across the western and south-western part of the city has over 4.19 lakh account holders with deposits worth Rs 790 crore.

A middle level official from Nanpura post office on the condition of anonymity said, "Cheque books are not available since last one month. At least 20,000 account holders have been deprived of their money due to unavailability of the cheque book. We have sent the request repeatedly. But, till we receive the cheque books we are helpless."

Chief Post Master General, Lieutenant colonel DKS Chauhan when asked told TOI, "I am just not aware of any such problem. But, I will have a look into it and speed up the process if there is a shortage."

Interestingly, Surat postal department has 70 vacant posts of supervisory staff, 120 postman and about 30 Group D staff.

"Working under constant shortage of staff, load of work doesn't allow us to peruse some issues as we should. Common people suffer because of that," said a senior officer of the department.