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EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
CHANDIGARH, July 17: Even as the postal authorities claim that there is no backlog of postal traffic in sorting offices as a result of the week-long strike by a section of employees, it is now gearing up to face the onslaught of mail from post offices which remained closed during the period.
CHANDIGARH, July 17: Even as the postal authorities claim that there is no backlog of postal traffic in sorting offices as a result of the week-long strike by a section of employees, it is now gearing up to face the onslaught of mail from post offices which remained closed during the period.
Though post offices in the City, and also in the region, began their normal function after the strike ended on late Thursday afternoon, department officials say that it will take three-four days to streamline the working of the department.
"Before the strike, we had given instructions to all divisions to clear out the mail lying in the post offices or letter boxes," the Chief Postmaster General, Punjab Circle, Col Tilak Raj said. "Some mail was also cleared by today morning as employees had begun to report for work yesterday," he added.
Raj said that the postal department was expecting a heavy mail rush today, when mail bags from other stations start arriving. "To cater for this, special measures for sorting and clearing mail have been taken up. These include extended working hours for employees and deputing personnel from different departments for sorting. Also personnel availing leave will be recalled to duty," he said.
The Chief Postmaster General also claimed that the employees have consented to put in extra hours without demanding any overtime allowance.
Postal officials said that during the strike, about 25 per cent employees reported for duty, which allowed limited service to be provided. While letter boxes outside post offices and those on major streets were cleared regularly, others could not be serviced.
It is mail from these letter boxes which is expected to burden the delivery system over the next few days. The total volume of mail handled by the Punjab Circle is 80 lakh postal items per day and volume of mail accumulated in unserviced letter boxes can well be imagined.
Out of a total of 46 post offices in the City, only the General Post Office in Sector 17 and 10 others, besides two in S.A.S. Nagar and one in Zirakpur functioned with a skeletal staff.
Meanwhile, on the first working day after the eight-day strike, post offices witnessed heavy rush. Though certain services like satellite money order and speed post were available, other services like withdrawing pension, sending or receiving money orders, registered letters and postal orders had been affected.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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