Indian postmen to deliver e-post

The traditional postman in India is now going to have a new job profile with the introduction of a fresh high-tech service product “e-post” by the department of post. Under e-post, handwritten letters, typed and printed documents, photographs etc are copied by post office computer with the help of scanner and then sent by e-mail to concerned post offices in India and abroad. Printouts of the email matters are taken out at these post offices and put in envelopes. Then they are delivered to the addressees by postmen. Postmen also collect e-post mail from senders’ place. In Bihar postal circle (BPC), Patna GPO was the first to introduce e-post. It was followed by all the computerized head post offices in different districts of Bihar. A manpower development team of BPC is providing training to the postmen of computerised post offices for delivery of mail coming by epost, chief post master of Patna GPO Sanjeev Ranjan told TNN. The charge for every A-4 size e-post mail is Rs. 10 out of which 50 paise is given to postman collecting the e-post mail from sender’s place. The communication revolution bug struck the department of post with the growth of e-mail, which threatened the prospects of postal mail sent by land and air in certain segments. This prompted the department to launch e-post service. The department proposes to use its huge network of post offices and the large workforce of postmen for providing e-post service to the people who do not have computers to send e-mail, said Director of Postal Services Anil Kumar.