The tiny office of the Postal Department on Fourth Seaward Road at Valmiki Nagar, copper-sulphate blue in colour and having a red post box in front of it and greenery around it, may resemble a beautiful toy building set. It lends a picturesque charm to the entire street but many residents, especially senior citizens, complain that one cannot stay in this single-room office that is made of corrugated metal sheets, for more than a few minutes, as it is unbearably hot inside.
It is almost two years since the branch was inaugurated, yet the post office does not have a proper concrete building. It instead functions from an enclosure made of corrugated metal panels which retain heat.
“I am 87-year-old and I find it very difficult to wait even for a few minutes inside. The ceiling fans circulate only hot air. I wonder how the staff is able to stay inside this blazingly hot office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. If not air-conditioning, at least a heat-proof ceiling could have been provided,” says Seshadri Kannan, a resident of Balakrishna Road in Thiruvanmiyur.
Another senior citizen S. V. Gopalakrishnan says upgrading the post office will bring more business. He, for instance, visits the post office twice or thrice a week. “Earlier, I used to go up to the Adyar branch on LB Road but now I go to Valmiki Nagar as it is close by. The branch offers many important services but they can save much of our time if more staff are in place,” says the resident of South Mada Street in Thiruvanmiyur.
Another resident D.D. Kumar says, “Even in villages you can find post-offices functioning with a proper building and necessary amenities.”
The Postmaster General for Chennai city region, Mervin Alexander, says, “We have presented the case to the head office in Delhi. Besides providing a proper office premise with adequate amenities for our staff, we have also certainly taken into consideration the fact that the locality has a good number of senior citizens. The needful will be done at the earliest.”
