Pvt sector to do some of postal dept services

Bangalore, Sept 7: The Department of Posts, facing severe shortage of staff following cap on recruitment, has decided to throw open some of its services to the private sector on franchisee basis.

Informing this to newspersons here after launching 'Sanchaya Post - Cast at your door' service for the Karnataka Postal Circle, its Secretary and Director General Jyotsna Diesh said it was also decided to relocate many of its post offices across the country.

She said awarding franchisees across the country, especially in ciites and towns, would be implemented shortly. The postal services likely to be awarded to private organisations included selling of postal stamps, accepting postal documents for delivery and some Savings bank operations.

Ms Diesh said the postal department would be actively involved in the Union Government's National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, envisaged to provide employment opportunities to umemployed youths in 200 most backward districts in the country. In Karnataka, five districts have been selected for the purpose and the wages of the beneficiaries would be remitted in their savings bank account at post offices, she added.

To a question, she said the Union Finance Ministry had constituted a working group to suggest segregation of banking operations of the postal department, running the world's largest Savings Bank accounts with over 16 crore depositors. The department handled over 3.75 lakh crore deposits and over 42 per cent of its revenue came from Savings Bank operations.

UNI