Snail mail just got slower

Postal dept to rope in retired staff and contract workers after daily carry-over of mails that need sorting reaches 5 lakh from 50,000 less than a month ago

The Railway Mail Service (RMS) of the postal department is reeling under a crisis. The daily carry-over of mails that need to be sorted has shot up from the usual 50,000 to over five lakh mails per day. The net result is that mails are reaching people a day late. 

Employees say night sorting has been reduced, so that those engaged in sorting will work for an additional three hours during the day. This, they say, has backfired and the mails are piling up. The department, however, says that it is only a temporary problem resulting from shortage of staff. They are now roping in retired employees and contract workers to tide over the situation. 

STAFF SHORTAGE IS THE REASON 

The RMS near the City Railway Station has 175 employees who sort mails generated in Bangalore for outstation destinations and those arriving in Bangalore. An employee, who did not want to be named, said, "Daily about 5 lakh mails are sorted. The sanctioned strength is 240, but there are only 175 working now; a shortage of 65. The mails collected in the day are sorted in the night. About 50,000 mails used to be pending, that would be sorted the following day. Since December 9, most of those sorting the mails in the night have been shifted to day. The night shift is from 5.20 pm to 6 am. Those working in the day work for three additional hours now. The logic was that there would be three extra hours of work by each. But in the last few weeks, the number of carry-over mails has shot up to 5 lakh a day." 

Another employee said, "If the day's mails are not sorted in the night, it means they are kept pending for 24 hours. There is a small increase in mails for the new year. Unlike in other states, there is no concept of outsourcing sorting work here. With vacancies also piling up, the situation can get only worse." 

Mails through the postal department take two to three days to reach their destination even locally in the city. After being sorted out at the RMS, they are once again sorted out in local post offices before individual postmen take them to the people. With a 24-hour pending period, the mails are now taking one additional day to reach their destination. 

Sanna Naik, the senior superintendent of RMS, says the situation will be normal by March. "Bangalore receives lots of mails, especially greeting cards from all over India during this time. Reorganisation of the staff is not the cause. The staff are now working more hours. Night shift also continues. The change was done to speed up things. We are clearing mails every day, and working day and night. 

"The problem is shortage of staff. Recently, we tried to recruit 11 people, but only one person passed the test. We are now trying to tide over the situation by employing outsiders and outsourcing the work. All efforts are being made to ensure things continue smoothly. We are also calling our retired staff to work. We hope to fill the vacancies by March."

Source : http://www.bangaloremirror.com