Postal dept strengthens mail service

Postal dept strengthens mail service

BHUBANESWAR: The Department of Posts (DoP) has initiated steps to strengthen the delivery and transportation of mails and marketing infrastructure in the State.

Chief Post Master General Dr Santosh Kumar Kamila said while International Business Centres (IBC) have started functioning at Bhubaneswar GPO from January 20 to improve international mail services, Bhubaneswar has been selected for the nodal mechanised parcel delivery centre. 

“As an initial step, IBC-Bhubaneswar will handle all kinds of letters except premium mails. To make the parcel delivery more reliable and customer-friendly, nodal mechanised centre for delivery has been set up at metros and State capitals. The centre will function at Satyanagar in Bhubaneswar from Monday,” he said. 

Informing on the Postal Life Insurance (PLI), Dr Kamila said it plays a vital role in providing security to the employees of government, semi-government and autonomous bodies with low premium and high bonus. 

While a public limited company - India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) - has been established under the DoP and started operating from two pilot centres at Ranchi and Raipur, 30 locations in Odisha have been identified for the project. 

The first branch in the State will, however, come up at Bhubaneswar by September this year, Dr Kamila said and added that the bank will help the rural masses under financial inclusion and direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme once it comes in operation in remote areas. 

At present, of 1,201 departmental post offices, 1,016 post offices are on Core Banking Solution (CBS) platform and shortly 6,973 branch offices will work on digital platform under Rural Information and Communication Technology (RICT) project.

The postal department is also collecting the PHEO water and sewerage tax of nine AMRUT cities through e-payment at 228 post offices. Besides, the Passenger Reservation System (PRS) facility is now available at 23 post offices in the State.