E-services keep postal registers clicking

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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