A visit to a nearby post office may soon be refreshing to residents as many of them are set to undergo an image makeover in the next few months.
Nine post offices, including those in Ambattur industrial estate, K.K.Nagar, Vadapalani, Pallavaram and Greams Road, recently had a change in their ‘Look and Feel’ as part of Project Arrow that aims to modernise postal operations and provide customer friendly environment.
At present, 56 post offices have undergone a revamp so far. Besides adorning a new look, the infrastructure in the post offices were also improved in terms of seating facility, signages and ramps. These changes made in the post offices have meant less dependence on others, making transactions easy for persons with physical disabilities and elderly customers.
Better facilities
V. Srinivasan, a 75-year-old resident of Vadapalani said: “I visit Vadapalani post office frequently to post letters and hold a savings account. I don’t have to strain and risk falling off the steps as there is a ramp. The services in the counters have also improved.”
But, some customers like M. Vatsala, a resident of Padi, feel that the height of the counters in some post offices must be lowered for disabled persons.
Officials of the postal department said that customers need not wait for staff members to clarify basic doubts as information boards on business hours for various services and transaction time have been put up as part of the recent initiative to make the post offices customer-friendly.
Persons with physical disabilities and senior citizens would be given priority in service as they contribute to 10-20 per cent of the customer base of post offices as in Vadapalani, an official said.
Six more this year
The infrastructure of each of the seven post offices was upgraded at a cost of Rs. 10 lakh under ‘Project Arrow’.
The postal department plans to upgrade six post offices this fiscal. Mervin Alexander, postmaster general, Chennai City Region, said that 72 post offices function in own premises. Nearly 470 are operating in rented premises.
“We are surveying possibilities of revamping the post offices in rented buildings to make them disabled friendly,” he said.
Besides opening more franchise post offices such as in Nungambakkam and Royapettah, the new post offices coming up in Mandaveli and Kovilambakkam would be equipped with web enabled services to attract more customers.
