Post Offices to offer many services

Post Offices come of age, to offer service

HYDERABAD: RK Narayan immortalised the integral role played by a postman, Thanappa, in the lives of people in the muchacclaimed short story, `The Missing Mail’, a part of his `Malgudi Days’. Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore wrote Dak Ghar (The Post Office) which later was made into a film by the legendary Satyajit Ray. Nearer home, renowned Telugu poet and writer Deverakonda Balagangadhar Tilak wrote a touching poem on the postman and his selfless service to the people. Those days merged into history with the emergence of e-mail and sms which are fast replacing the postal system but not the human bondage. Perhaps, to be in tune with the ever-changing technology and the world of communication, the Department of Posts has embarked on value addition. In the coming days, the reason for visiting a post office need not be for posting a greeting card but to buy one. As part of the new portfolio of services offered by India Post, all stationery goods will be made available at the post offices. In about a month from now 235 post offices in Andhra Pradesh will also offer foreign exchange service. The places identified for introducing these services are Hyderabad, Adilabad, Karimnagar, Vijayawada, Vishakapatnam. Making ticket-booking a hasslefree experience for travellers, 400 post offices in the State will also offer railway, flight and bus reservation facility, says Chief Postmaster-General KV Sundar Rajan. Officials say 1,000 post offices in India will be revamped to be made models. As a pilot project in Hyderabad, the delivery of Speed Post will also be done during evening. ``We want to make the post office a one-stop shop. Shortly, 71 post offices in the State will sell gold coins. Now, 21 post offices are selling gold,’’ General Manager (Business Development) John Samuel says. In another initiative, a new e-Post service will be introduced in this financial year. Interested people can open an account for e-Post under which a soft copy delivered to the post office will be mailed to the addressee as a hard copy. ``As India Post lagged in parcel delivery service, we are going to establish parcel post hubs at Hyderabad, Vishakapatnam and Vijayawada,’’ reveals Samuel. According to postal officials, 96 per cent of the daily wages paid under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) are paid through post offices. To make the delivery system of wages more efficient, Biometric Identification System (BIS), which was successfully implemented as a pilot project in Nizamabad, will be introduced in other parts of the State. Under BIS, the thumb impression of the worker will be taken and cross-checked with the impression recorded in the database. The wages will be paid only if the thumb impressions match. This procedure will ensure delivery of money to the right person. It’s not all. A person will get an SMS on his mobile if a post is to be delivered to him. ``It was implemented in Kurnool, Kadapa and Chittoor. A graphic message will inform the person that a post in his name has come and awaits delivery. Either the person can visit the post office to collect it personally or wait for the postman to deliver it at the house,’’ says Sundar Rajan.
Grand plan
* Train, flight, bus reservation
* Stationery & greeting cards
* Gold coins
* e-Post
* Parcel hubs
* SMS alerts
* NREGS payments by BIS

source-news papers