The Department of Posts will sell seven lakh bottles of water drawn from River Godavari during the 12-day-long Pushkaralu, which is considered to be auspicious. The bottles priced at Rs. 20 each will contain 500 ml of water that the Postal Department has named, GOD-JAL after Godavari Jalam. The department started the booking process on Wednesday.
Chief Post Master General, AP and Telangana Circle B. V. Sudhakar at a press conference here on Wednesday said that going by the initial appreciation from general public, the Department will have to produce more bottles as the demand was expected to go over 20 lakh by July 14, the last date for placing bookings.
A local ISI-certified water purification and bottling company Sapphire from Rajahmundry will manufacture the water bottles through reverse osmosis. The water drawn from Godavari during Pushkaram period that extends from July 14 to July 25 will undergo an 18 stage purification process that complies with Bureau of Indian Standards before it gets bottled.
Online orders
Those interested can purchase the bottles from any of the 16,150 post offices that are located in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Believers from across the country and those residing in other countries can also place online orders on www.appost.in/eshop. Delivery charges will not be applicable within the state though the overseas orders will draw extra delivery rates. Purchases from abroad can be made only using American Express or Diner cards.
If the Godavari bottled water project clicks, the Department plans to start bottling water from river Ganga too after acquiring permissions from respective state governments, Mr. Sudhakar said.
The sale of water is part of the Postal Department’s revenue generation plans for the year 2015-16. The Andhra Pradesh Circle of the department has had a steady growth in revenue over the past three years due to strict implementation of projects that attract public interest, Mr. Sudhakar said.
While the total turnover of Department of Posts, AP circle was Rs.47,912 crore in 2012-13, it increased by 5.5 per cent in 2013-14, the financial year that recorded a turnover of Rs.50,548 crore.
“In 2014-15 we had a record turnover of Rs.67,211 crore which is a 29 per cent increase. We could achieve this due to drastic increase in the number of savings accounts. The revenue also increased due to innovative projects that we introduced,” Mr Sudhakar said. The number of savings accounts with the department had increased from 4.45 crore to 6.02 crore accounts over a span of one year, he added.
The circle is also expected to open 14 new post offices and eight sub post offices at the mandal level this year, officials announced. Six new branches will also be opened at the village level, Mr. Sudhakar said.
