Renovation of 2,500 post offices is on cards:

Indore: Colonel (retd) KC Mishra, postmaster general, pune region, talks about plans to revamp the image of India post

In his thirty years of service, Colonel (retd) KC Mishra, postmaster general, Pune region, has served with the India Post in various capacities. During his tenure, the looks and facilities of the postal service have witnessed many changes. Mishra spoke with Soumabha Nandi about the future of the organisation.

What are the reforms that have been introduced to make postal services more user-friendly?

India Post is a very large organisation that boasts of 157 years of history. Over the years, it has graduated with the demands of the changing trends. Today, services like speed post, speed post passport services, business post, bill mail service, e-post, e-payment, e-MO, IMO and others have been initiated to make the postal services more customer-friendly. Moreover, the look of the post offices has also undergone a sea change. Most of the offices are computerised, and connected through Internet.

Has the advent of private courier services posed any threat to the services offered by the India Post?

Courier services can never be a competition to the postal services. We are too large an organisation for them. We provide door-to-door services with a personal touch. Our services are far more reliable than theirs. Courier services are available only in A-listed cities, whereas we can reach the remote corners of the nation. Besides, we are registered with the Universal Postal Union (UPU), a United Nations (UN) body.

Letter writing is on the verge of extinction. Do you think that emails, SMSes and social networking sites have made letter writing a rare habit altogether?

Letter writing has gone down drastically. Though business post has gone up to large extent, the number of personal mails has gone down drastically. The world of SMSes and emails is largely responsible for it. But we are coming up with ways to tackle this problem. Letter writing was fun in itself. We will discuss the issue at a meeting of MAHAPEX 2012 on September 23. The meet will be attended by the state governor.

Many regard postal services as outdated. Do you agree with it? What are the problem areas that need to be addressed?

It is a wrong notion altogether. We have the complete support of the ministry of finance. In fact, it is the most trusted organisation of the government. However, there is definitely room for improvement. The issues of Adhar card, core banking facilities and ATM cards have already started making their way into the service.

Renovation of most of the post offices across India including the 2,500 offices in Pune is on the cards. We aim to complete the renovation by the 12th Five Year Plan.

Moreover, we need to change the mindset of the people working in post offices as per the changing times. We plan to organise soft skill training programmes as well.

Courtesy : daily bhasker .com