The Hindu Business Line : Kerala Circle plans new services to celebrate 150 years of India Post

Announcing this at a press conference in the city on Monday, Ms K.N.K. Karthiayani, Chief Post Master General, Kerala Circle, said the department earned Rs 175.34 crore from postal services and Rs 64.2 crore from its savings bank schemes in 2003-04. Some of the initiatives to be implemented over the next several months include State-wide rollout of a pick-up service for regular mail, launch of the `Logistics Post' service and setting up a postal museum in Thiruvananthapuram, she said.

An experimental version of the Postal Department's pick-up scheme for regular mail — Scheme to Protect our Treasured Services (SPOTS) — was launched in Thiruvananthapuram on October 4, she said.

As part of the SPOTS service, postal employees collect mail from the customer's premises and transport it to the Thiruvananthapuram Railway Mail Service office for onward distribution, Ms Karthiayani said. The department plans to introduce this service in Kozhikode and Kochi by the end of the year, and will later extend it to all head post offices.

The Postal Department also plans to launch the `Logistics Post' service in Kerala in February next year. This service will offer customers speedy delivery of parcels on certain specified routes, said Ms Karthiayani.

Also on the cards is a scheme to turnaround loss-making branch post offices in the State, she said. These post offices will be encouraged to promote Postal Life Insurance and Rural Postal Life Insurance policies, she said. These post offices will also focus on improving the performance of the savings bank schemes.

The department has also decided to computerise and network all head post offices and major sub post offices in the State.

The response to the `senior citizens savings scheme' introduced in August has been very good, said Ms Karthiayani. In the Kerala Postal Circle alone, deposits worth Rs 70.76 crore have been made over the last two months, she said.

The Postal Department is also in the process of setting up a postal museum in Thiruvananthapuram, Ms Karthiayani said. The museum, which will be located in the premises of the Post Master General's office, will be ready by the middle of next year.

Over the next few months, the department will organise a series of mobile philatelic exhibitions and festivals across the State, she said. Essay competitions for school children, seminars and workshops will also form a part of the Postal Department's 150th anniversary celebrations.

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