City residents can soon start receiving letters and articles sent through speed post on Sundays too. The Department of Posts plans to start delivering speed posts on Sundays in select areas in commemoration of the postal week.
Nearly 7 lakh speed posts are being delivered every month in the Chennai City region (CCR). As part of an effort to serve the growing customer base, the department plans to deliver speed posts during weekends in Anna Nagar, Virugambakkam and T. Nagar on a pilot basis.
Mervin Alexander, postmaster general (CCR), said: “We are targeting residential areas and plan to launch the service during the postal week to be commemorated from October 9 to October 15. The number of areas covered will be increased depending on the patronage. Online tracking of the speed posts is another advantage.”
The department is also gearing up to spruce up its offices and dedicate each day to a particular scheme, including savings bank day and philately day, to improve their services.
Keeping in mind the burgeoning population along the IT corridor, four post offices are proposed to be opened along East Coast Road and Rajiv Gandhi Salai this year. Moreover, offices in poor condition like the one in Minjur will be shifted to a new location.
Besides a host of programmes planned to revive the habit of letter writing among school children, an awareness meeting will be held for differently-abled children on philately. T. Murthy, Chief Postmaster General, Tamil Nadu circle, said: “We have invited over 50 schools to the philatelic bureau at Anna Road HPO to give the students a glimpse of philately and the ‘My Stamps’ scheme. The students will also get ‘My Stamps’.”
The personalised postage stamps with individuals’ faces printed on them are becoming popular and about 10,000 sheets of stamps, worth Rs. 30 lakh, have been sold in the past year.
“We are also focussing on increasing savings accounts and postal life insurance schemes. There are over 2.24 crore accounts across the State. Of this, Chennai city region contributes to 52 lakh accounts,” Mr. Murthy added.
