BSNL, Posts join hands to streamline phone bill despatch

Chennai, June 29 (UNI) Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), Chennai Telephones and the Department of Posts have joined hands to streamline the despatch of telephone bills to cut down on delays and curtail the lakhs of non-delivery every month.

A BSNL official told UNI here today that inadequacies in the postal delivery chain were putting subscribers in a fix, besides playing havoc with BSNL's revenue cycles.

In view of this, BSNL had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Department of Posts to reinforce mutual cooperation, especially to streamline the despatch and delivery system.

Following the MoU, additional staff have been pressed into service at the postal department's mass mailing centre at various places and the process of inserts/sorting expedited. In addition to scaling up its mass mailing centre staff from 45 to 60, the postal department had also appointed a nodal officer to liaise with BSNL on bill despatch issues.

The efforts have borne fruit almost immediately with a significant lowering of bill delivery complaints for May-June, the official said.

BSNL, with a landline subscriber base of around ten lakh spread across the city, suburbs and the Chengalpattu area, is the biggest high-volume client for the mass mailing tasks at Park Town post office.

The printing of telephone bills was an outsourced activity and the bills were brought to Park Town post office straight from the presses. On a single day, the despatch assignment could run up to several thousands.

Given the high volume, the postal department had also sought the turning in of telephone bills to be despatched the same day in the forenoon, a postal department spokesman said.

After insertion and sorting, the envelopes go to the Head Post Office and from there onwards to the respective local post offices.

According to a postal department official, post masters have been instructed to ensure prompt delivery of telephone bills henceforth.

UNI