Remember those red cylindrical letter boxes at street corners? In the age of email and smartphones, the letter box, once such an important part of communication, is rarely noticed.
From pillar boxes and TV-shaped square boxes to the smaller ones that could be hung on trees, the city still has several types of letter boxes. But, green-and-blue ones, meant for other parts of the country and international mails, can now be spotted only in head post offices.
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Residents said some of them are in dire need of maintenance and several fast-developing suburbs do not have sufficient letter boxes. S.M. Chellaswamy, a Gopalapuram resident, said: “I find it easier to write letters to my senior citizen association members. There are letter boxes located near post offices. But, suburbs like Valasaravakkam do not have enough of them.”
In some areas like Anna Nagar, letter boxes have been shifted to facilitate Metro Rail work. Residents complained that while some old letter boxes are damaged, others do not have proper clearance timing. They demanded that the department replace and paint them regularly, especially before the monsoon.
J. Srivenkatesh, circle president (C3 union) of National Federation of Postal Employees, said the department must initiate a survey in the suburbs to place letter boxes. “New shapes can be introduced. These could be placed near schools to encourage children to write letters.”
Officials of the postal department said there are 2,462 letter boxes in Chennai. New ones are placed according to demand as in R.A. Puram, Mugalivakkam and Anna Nagar. Some are relocated or discontinued based on patronage.
Mervin Alexander, postmaster general (Chennai City Region), said post office staff check letter boxes regularly. New structures are fixed in rural areas with funds allotted under Rural Business and Access to Postal Network. Of the 110 allotted this year, 71 letter boxes have been fixed in places such as Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu.
The concept of new shapes for letter boxes will be considered.
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