The Cash on Delivery (COD) tie-up of online shopping sites with the Postal Department is benefitting the rural customers of Raipur and its neighbouring districts.
“There are around 542 rural post offices in Raipur division including Gariaband, Balodabazaar-Bhatapara, Dhamtari, Mahasamund and Raipur.
Sites namely Amazon, Flipkart, Yepme, ShopClues and Myntra are regularly approaching us to deliver their products in the rural areas,” informed a Senior Officer at Office of the Superintendent RMS, RP Division, Raipur to The Pioneer.
Notably, it is the company which first approaches the Postal Department. later, the Department pays the post delivery amount to the concerned company. “We are playing the role of a Mediator,” said the Senior Officer.
Apart from online shopping, the Postal Department is working on Rural Information and Communication Technology (RICT) wherein the beneficiaries of the government schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and Pension Schemes will receive the payments at the touch of fingertip.
The Senior Officer said such customers will not have to sign on the hard copy of the money withdrawal form. “The step is being taken to avoid the interference of middlemen and ensure timely payments of various government schemes available in the post offices'' said Ashish Singh Thakur, Senior Superintendent of Post Offices, Raipur Division.
Asked about the launch of the technology, he said it is in pipeline and likely to be launched during the next four months. “The overall functioning of the post offices will start by December this year,” he said.