Date:31/01/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/01/31/stories/2006013101202300.htm

Back Postal dept to offer new services in Kerala

Our Bureau

Thiruvananthapuram , Jan. 30

THE Department of Posts is launching several new services in Kerala over the next few months.

The first of these services is a scheme for the delivery of mail early in the morning, said Mr M.P. Rajan, Chief Postmaster-General, Kerala Postal Circle. Called `Suprabatham', this scheme will be launched on Tuesday at the Thiruvananthapuram General Post Office.

If the pilot project in Thiruvananthapuram is successful, the service will be extended to select post offices in other major cities in the State, he added. This service will be in addition to existing mail delivery schedules, he said.

As part of the `Suprabatham' service, specially selected post offices will start functioning at 6 a.m. All unregistered mail and SpeedPost articles from these post offices will be delivered to recipients from 8.30 a.m. onwards. Post offices that offer this scheme will have a second delivery schedule to distribute registered mail as well as ordinary mail, he explained.

The Department of Posts is also planning to start `finance marts' at select post offices in six locations in the State. The marts will sell the entire range of financial products offered by the postal department, including mutual funds, non-life insurance products and various post office savings schemes, Mr Rajan said. The first `finance mart' is likely to be started at the Thiruvananthapuram General Post Office in a month's time, he added.

According to Mr Rajan, the postal department is looking at launching another service called `e-bill post' in Kerala. This service, which makes it possible to pay a range of utility bills through post offices, is currently being tested in Kerala, he said. The department expects to be able to launch this scheme in Kerala in the next couple of months, he added.

The postal department is also in the process of computerising 545 post offices in the State and expects to complete this initiative by March this year. Once the computerisation process is over, all 545 post offices will have basic Internet services, he said.

The department currently operates an Internet café at a post office in Idukki and is looking at the possibility of extending this service to other rural areas, he added.

In the Kerala Postal Circle, expenditure currently exceeds revenue by approximately Rs 50 crore, Mr Rajan said. However, the department expects its revenue to match expenditure in the next one year, he said.