Snail mail zooming back

HYDERABAD: Postal services do not seem to have lost their relevance in the age of internet. Indicating a growing demand for postal facilities, in the last fiscal year alone, as many as nine residential areas have asked for a post office to be opened in the vicinity. This is a far cry from say, until five years ago, when not a single letter would land at the doorstep of the postal department.
Strange as it may sound, denizens 'e-quipped' with smart phones and all things prefixed with an 'i', are queuing up to request for the humble postal service. In 2011-12, the department received nine official written applications from colonies across the twin cities requesting that it relocate a post office to their area.
"Everybody suddenly wants a post office in their colony. As residential areas are expanding, people are feeling the need for a post office somewhere nearby. But, according to department policy, we cannot exceed a certain number of post offices in the state and, hence, we try to relocate existing post offices to areas where the demand is higher.
"Applications for relocation started increasing around five years back. Until 2010, there would be just about five such applications but last year that figure was nine, which is a big jump," said an official. However, it is learnt that this number denotes just a fraction of the actual demand for post offices in the city with officials saying that the department has also received several unofficial requests last year.
The increasing demand for post offices across the city is also reflected in the number of mails being handled by the department and the revenue thus generated. From a total of 3.77 lakh postage items handled in Hyderabad in 2007-08, the figure soared to a whopping 6.74 lakh in 2010-11. The figure accounts for ordinary mail, registered mail, money orders and registered parcels. Meanwhile, the total revenue in Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts from various postal services went from around Rs 85 crore in 2009-10 to more than Rs 91 crore in 2011-12.
Karuna Pillai, chief postmaster general of AP Circle, said, "Although personal mails are not too many, business mails, speed posts and express parcel service have picked up immensely and are really popular. We have seen a 32% rise in the overall business over the last one year."
She further added, "The post office's connection with the people is slowly reviving. We never received requests for relocating post offices in such large numbers before. With the expansion of residential colonies, there has been atremendous spurt in demand".
The most recent post office relocation, done last month, was the one that moved facilities from Suchitra Junction in Bowenpally to Jeedimetla. The allocation was achieved on the back of substantial public demand. And what is more, sources in the department revealed that soon after the relocation, even Suchitra Junction residents have requested for a separate post office in their locality.
Meldy Titus, a resident of Sahara Estates and among the nine localities which have appealed that a post office be shifted to their colony, said, "A post office in the colony is very necessary. Currently, the nearest post offices are at LB Nagar and the Geological Survey of India, which are at least two kilometres away. Despite telephone and internet connections, a post office is essential as many important documents like banking details, hall tickets for exams, call letters and college applications are still sent by post." City builders, too, agreed that having a post office in the vicinity of a property only added to its value as it signified for the customer that the locality was developed and had good infrastructure.

Source : The Times of India, Sept 9 , 2012