Rural post offices see increase in savings account

Divya Sharma

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, July 6

If officials of the Head Post Office are to be believed, demonetisation has put a positive impact on post offices, especially located in rural areas.

A number of sub-post offices come under the jurisdiction of the Heritage Head Post Office located on the court road in the city. Post offices in rural areas, in particular, have witnessed an increase in opening savings account, apart from regular postal services.

During demonetisation, people were asked to deposit old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 at post offices, apart from banks. Long queues of people were seen in front of banks, ATMs and post offices to get the old currency exchanged.

Even those who did not have savings accounts in post offices were allowed to get the currency exchanged with a valid identity proof.

The authorities at the Head Post Office stated that during demonetisation, lots of people having bank accounts availed benefit. But the real change came in rural areas as a number of people came forward to open their saving accounts in their post office concerned.

Vijay Kumar, senior postmaster at the general post office, (Head Office), said, “We have seen a positive response from the people in connection with the opening of saving accounts in rural areas. It is not that people were not interested earlier but after demonetisation, people living in rural areas have shown interest in opening saving accounts at post offices.”

Anyone can open a saving account with Rs 50 and the current account is available by depositing Rs 500 to the postal authorities.

“The postal department is focusing on rural areas. We are also hiring the staff to ensure smooth functioning of post offices. We have witnessed an increase in areas near Amritsar such as Chabbal, Khanpur and Dhand,” added Kumar.