So, this is it for the telegram. The fast mail service initiated by the British ends on July 15. RAKSHIT MAlHOTRA tells you how this old world service lost its battle to newage technology
The 158-year-old telegram service which helped British troops quell the 1857 Mutiny and establish supremacy over the subcontinent, will breathe its last on July 15, 2013.
“This service had been incurring an annual loss of Rs 130 crore and the Government had stopped giving a subsidy on telegram services. The number of telegrams had also reduced drastically to only 5,000 a day,” Sl Chokkar, deputy manager of BSNl Telegram Services, said. The number of offices has also reduced dramatically from 45,000 to only 75 dedicated offices today. During its peak time in 1987, 6.5 crore telegrams were despatched daily. Although the telegrams were still in use in Parliament and recognised as an authentic document in courts, the Government couldn’t bear the losses any longer, Chokkar explained.
The telegrams were also being used for sending complaints to the National Human Rights Commission and the Prime Minister’s Office. They were the only certified documents for sending applications for Army and Railways recruitments too. “On a given day, the offices were full of activity and functional 24 hours a day. We used to work in shifts, but now with modern technology coming in, the telegram has lost its relevance, ” Chokkar said. With services like email, whatsapp and BBM, the traditional form of communication has been hit hard. Not just the telegram but also Indian Post is facing a dual challenge from new technologies and private courier services.
The advent of these services has led to a decline in mail traffic from 681.13 crore in 2006-07 to 637.18 crore in 2011-12. “The declining mail volume is a global phenomenon and has been taking place due to substitution of letters by electronic means. The Indian Post has decided to let go of some services.
“We, too, are going to use IT to roll out faster e-enabled services,” another official from department of Posts said. The Indian Post is, however, riding high on premium products mail which has increased from 13.42 crore in 2006-07 to 40.20 crore in 2011-12. “We are expecting a further increase in the market share of speed post in the express mail category from the present 28 per cent to more than 40 per cent in three years,” the official said.
With the increase in usage of information technology worldwide, the Indian Post is overhauling its services under Project Arrow. The mail network optimisation project is aimed at improving the mail processes and the IT project at revamping the complete IT infrastructure of the department.
In the coming three years, Indian Post will be completely revamped,” the official said.