The postal fraternity across the globe celebrated postal week in between October 9-15, the day on which Universal Postal Union (UPU) was founded in 1874 as World Post Day.
UPU continues to play an active role in enhancing the quality and scope of global interaction between nations. The purpose of World Post Day is to create awareness about the role of the postal sector.
Every year, more than 150 countries celebrate World Post Day in a variety of ways. In India, it is being celebrated as a part of National postal Week. The role of Post Office is undergoing transformation, as electronic mail and new technologies supplement traditional postal activities.
Besides providing access to the affordable means of communication anywhere in the country, India Post also meets the emerging needs of the specific segment of society like commerce, industry, Government and institutional bodies, who demand quicker, value added services.
This has resulted in the need to customize number of products & services and modernize postal operation through induction of technology. Towards this end, Department of Posts has launched an ambitious project called ‘Indiapost 2012’.
With a total cost of Rs 5,500 Crore, this project aims to modernize and transform all the post offices of India. It envisages bringing all the post offices on a networked platform linked to a common data centre.
This platform will be a vehicle for financial inclusion in rural areas. It will deliver services like Anytime banking, mobile banking and Internet banking to even the remotest village in the country and also provide tracking of mail articles on a real time basis.
Apart from premium services like Postal savings, Speed Post, Express Parcel Post, Business Post and Retail Post, India Post has, in the recent past, launched newer services like – e-payment, logistic Post, Bill Mail Service, World Net Service, Direct Post, International Money Transfer Service (IMTS), Instant money order (i-MO), International financial System Money order, and Mobile money transfer.
Uttarakhand Circle Postal consists of seven Postal Division and one RMS Division. The State-wide network includes 2720 Post Offices & 42 Panchayat Sanchar Seva Kendra (PSSK). Being a predominantly rural network, only 204 Post Offices are providing services in urban areas, while the rest cater to the need of rural populace.
Many pick up vehicles have also been put in service to pick up mail/parcels from the doorsteps of bulk/regular customers. Mail is also picked up by the postmen while they are on their duty.
Exchange of coins of `2/- and 1/- on behalf of Reserve Bank of India is done at 5 HPOs at Dehradun, Hardwar, Kotdwar, Haldwani & Almora. Other retailing activities include sale of application forms for Universities, state Public Service Commission, Postal Shoppee, 27 Parcel Packaging Centres, Collection of telephone bills for BSNl, Railway ticketing through Indian Railways Passenger Reservation System and Consumer Price Index (CPI) data collection for Ministry of Consumer Affairs.
The Postal savings scheme has 51.61 lakh live accounts in the circle. 1.87 lakh SB accounts have been opened under MGNREGS and payment of Rs 23.02 Crore was made to job card holders from April 13 to August 13. India Post is the oldest insurer in India. Insurance started its operations on 01/02/1884.
PlI policies are meant for employees of central /state government offices/ organizations/contractual employees and the PSU, schools, colleges, universities. Rural PlI polices are meant for eligible rural insurants.
Events like PlI, RPlI Melas, lucky Draw for Speed Post customers are being organized through the week in selected Post Offices across Uttarakhand. A small Philately exhibition is being organized in Dehradun H.O. A special stamp on the theme of ‘Mahatma Gandhi’ will be released on 12th October on the occasion of Philately Day.