CHENNAI: Walk into the
Besant Nagar post office in Shastri Nagar on a Friday morning around 10, and
you will find a queue of at least seven people in front of the postage and
savings bank counters. Look closely and you will see a longer queue in front of
the e-post and e-bill counters.
Data shows that this
is a growing trend in the 12,185 post offices in the Tamil Nadu region, which
includes Puducherry, after India Post decided to embrace internet mailing and
e-banking system.
The department's
e-post and e-bill services in Tamil Nadu have seen a steady rise in the number
of customers in the last three years, compared to the 66,000 people who used it
in the year 2009. "We decided to target the rural population who may not
have internet access, or have email ids, but need a letter to reach in just a
couple of hours," said a postal department official.
E-post, a service
introduced by India Post four years ago, allows people to send messages through
email to remote destinations. The post office in that destination will print
out the letter and deliver it to the addressee. Though this system still faces
competition from the facsimile (fax) or direct email, officials say it works as
a faster alternative to courier service. "Students in villages who want to
send documents or letters to colleges use this service," said the
official.
Another service that
India Post has received praise for is the e-bill payment service. Last year
more than 47 lakh people paid their bills at post offices compared to the 27
lakh people who used it in 2009. This service works as a one-stop shop to pay
phone bills, electricity bills, fees for a few national universities and even
taxes. "It used to take me at least two days in long queues to pay all my
bills, till I discovered this facility four months back," said Indira
Rajan from Thiruvanmiyur.
Department officials
say though customers availing these services have increased, the thought of
post offices going empty in future still persists. "Even now the crowd is
mostly the elderly, and homemakers. We are scared the younger generation may
never get the post office-experience," said a senior official. The reason
for this is lack of awareness and advertising.
It was about seven
years ago, the postal department introduced electronic and internet-based
services to draw crowds back into the red and white buildings.
Source : The
Times of India, June 14, 2012
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