Watch: India Post is surging forward with Citizen centric schemes

• India post has taken several innovatice citizen centric initiatives like issues of Passports, Aadhar Cards.
• India Post Enables Financial inclusive growt in India
• Powering Post Offices with Solar Energy
• Transparency in online recruitment of Dak Sevaks.
• Technology driven postal services benfits people
• Core System integrator inaugurated at Hyderabad GPO

Hyderabad, April 24 (Maxim News): India Post is surging forward with Citizen centric schemes and receiving tremendous response from the public.

While addressing the press conference at Dak Sadan, Abids in Hyderabad today, B.V.Sudhakar, Secretary, Department of Posts said that an MoU has been entered into with Ministry of External Affairs for issue of Passport by the Post Office. As of now this facility has been introduced in 42 Head Post Offices and the services will be introduced in 811 Head Post Offices by March 31, 2018.

On an average each HPO will issue 100 passports and commission of Rs.300/- is fixed per passport which will earn a revenue of 750 Cr to the Department. Two Post Office Passport Seva Kendras at Hanamkonda and Mahabubnagar were set up in March 2017 and public are widely using the services. It is proposed to issue Aadhar Cards from the Postal Department within 2 months time. The public can apply for modifications and enroll for new Aadhar cards from the Post Office itself. Speed Post booking is presently available in the Head Post Offices and Sub Post Offices. Partially in some postal circles, it has been extended to some Branch Post Offices depending on the demand. On 14 April 2017 the department has issued orders to provide speed post booking facility in all the 1,29,346 Branch Post Offices located in the country.

The Department of Post is ensuring to see that every individual opens a savings account in the Post Office. During 2015-16 34.70 crore accounts and during 2016-17 ; 35.17 crore accounts have been opened. The outstanding balance in these 35.17 crore accounts is 7.02 lakh crores. The Department has launched India Post Payment Bank and two branches one in Ranchi and the other in Raipur have been made operational in January 2017. The Payment Bank will primarily focus on financial inclusion. Out of total 650 branches one Payment Bank in each district will be opened. These Payment Banks will be networked with 1200 to 1500 Branch Offices. 800 Crores is the initial capital 400 Cr in equity and 400 Cr in grant from Central Government. This will benefit Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of various social schemes and promote Third Party products. There are 978 stand alone ATMs and these are made interoperable by 31.12.2016 which has helped the public to a large extent to withdraw the amounts from PO ATMs also. The Indian Post Office Act 1898 was amended. The Act empowers the Parliament to fix tariff for post cards, ILCs, envelopes, competition post cards, printed post cards, sample packets and registered newspapers. The act has been amended to allow the department to fix the tariff through Finance Bill 2017.

It is also proposed to provide Solar Power backup to the ATMs just like the solar power back up provided to the hand held devices. This will help during power cuts. In Delhi, the Dept. of Posts has installed Roof Top Solar Power pack investing 1.2 Cr. Which will reduce the electricity charges to the maximum extent thus saving an amount of Rs.12 lakhs spent every month towards operational costs of electricity.

The Postal Department has introduced an Inhouse software which facilitates uploading of documents by potential candidates. The software evaluates and declares the results which are displayed in the website www.indiapost.gov.in. The URL is appost.in/gdsonline. At present there are 55,000 GraminDakSevak vacancies. Of which filling up of 14,406 vacancies has been commenced in 17 circles. This online recruitment brings in transparency in recruitment and improves process efficiency. The minimum qualification for GraminDakSevak is 10th class.

The Secretary has inaugurated the Core System Integrator at GPO in Hyderabad today. Remaining Post Ofices will be rolled out soon in Telangana State. Now customers have choice of making payment in multiple modes i.e. cash, cards etc. Waiting time in counters is greatly reduced. Under Rural Information and Communication Technology (RICT), 24,000 Branch Post Offices have been brought on IT platform from November 2016. Branch Post Offices have been supplied with hand held devices which have solar power backup. These devices perform both postal and Savings Bank operations. By December 2017 all the Branch Post Offices will be covered under RICT. The Department is trying to provide interoperability of these hand held devices which also operate as micro ATMs in a couple of months.

It was proposed to do away the existing dress code of the Postmen and in consultation with National Institute of Fashion Technology, designed a new dress code which will be brought into use. The department has also introduced Extension Counters of Employment Exchange in the Department which will facilitate the unemployed youth to enroll for employment on a minimal charge of Rs.50/- for enrolment. On a pilot basis, the Department this facility in A.P and as on date 7575 candidates have availed this facility.

The Chief Postmaster General, Telangana Circle Brig B Chandrasekhar, Postmasters General Col M.Eleesha, Ms.Radhika Chakravarthy, Dr.P.V.S.Reddy have also participated in the Press conference. (Maxim News)