Respite from drudgery: Govt schemes for rural post offices

In a move to boost revenues from post offices in the rural areas, the Postal Department has entered into agreements with the Public and Private Sector Banks, Insurance Companies and media groups to advertise and sell their policies to people living in rural areas. Giving information about the changes, Prithvi Raj Kumar, Chief Postmaster General, Punjab circle, said that the Central Government has also come up with allowances for the rural post masters, known as Gramin Dak Sevaks.

According to an agreement signed between the government and the Postal department, old age pension will now be disbursed through the Gramin post offices. Similarly, allowances under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme will be distributed by the rural post offices.

The overall loss presently incurred by the Postal department on account of the rural post offices is around Rs 550 crore. Rural post offices in the Punjab Circle incurred a loss of Rs 34 crores last year. Kumar further said that around 50 post offices had been relocated in various rural areas in the last year in the state.

A rural post officer gets Rs 50 from the government as maintenance allowance. However, the rural officer, who works from 3 to 5 hours, has to ensure that he has an independent source of income to run the post office. The Central government has decided to provide installation of fans; uninterrupted supply of stationery; allowance for chappals; acceptance of telephone and electricity bills in post offices.