Postal strike hits MTNL billing

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, DEC. 13.

With no end to the 10-day-old postal strike in sight tonight, there is complete chaos in various departments, affecting normal functioning and even holding up important transactions.

Be it delivery of telephone bills by Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, dispatch of study material by Indira Gandhi National Open University or even regular official correspondence, everything has been left high and dry.

With revenue stamps fast running out of stock, business transaction too have been hit. To top it all, December is the ``month of greeting cards'' in view of Christmas and New Year.

``Work has been totally disrupted,'' concedes a senior MTNL official. The public sector undertaking, on an average, dispatches over 11 lakh telephone bills a month through the Postal Department. In view of the strike, the MTNL has decided to extend the last date for bill collection by the period of strike. Public notices have already been issued in this regard.

Further, as eight lakh bills are above Rs. 500, the MTNL has decided to accept their payment without revenue stamps, as they have run out of stock. ``We do not want to cause discomfort to subscribers,'' officials say, adding that this has been done as a stop-gap arrangement.

The entire academic year of IGNOU is likely to go hay-wire due to the strike. According to the Material Production and Distribution Director, IGNOU, Mr. Pradeep Sahni, it is necessary to dispatch study material to its 2.73 lakh students before December 31. ``Due to the strike all packets are gathering dust. We do not know what to do now,'' he rues.

``We will decide on the next course of action in the next few days,'' says Mr. Sahni, adding it was all the more essential to send study packets to its 1.9 lakh new students.

With December being the month for Class XII students to apply for engineering and medical entrance examinations, most of which require postal orders, thousands of city students do not know how to send their application forms.

Concedes the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Chairman, Mr. Surender Nath: ``We are facing problems. As of now things are under control, but if the strike continues for another few days, we will be forced to make alternate arrangements.'' The UPSC might extend its deadline for accepting its applications. ``We will certainly give more time. We cannot let them suffer due to no fault of theirs,'' he assures.

In view of the week-long strike, Delhi University, in a statement, said students who did not receive their admit card for the UGC-NET examination on December 24, may collect the duplicate one from the university office.

Though there are about 300 courier companies in the Capital, a majority of government departments are unable to utilise their services in the absence of a directive from the top. ``We are not able to send in our regular dispatches, which has affected our work. In case it is very urgent, we are sending it by hand,'' says a senior government official of the Union Urban development Ministry.

However, courier companies have reported a 20 to 25 per cent jump in business. ``We rarely receive any packet from government agencies. It is mostly from students, public sector undertakings, banks and individuals who need to send their documents urgently,'' says Mr. Pramod Seth of the Desk to Desk Courier (DTDC).

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