Postal dept faces staff crunch

Ashok Raina

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Kangra, March 7

For postmen, delivery of mail here is a Herculean task as apart from uncertain weather conditions, improper addresses and physical limitations, they hardly get five hours in the field which makes it difficult for them to deliver on time.

Moreover, they have to cover double the distance on foot and on an average 25 per cent of the mails remain undelivered daily.

Sources said the other reason was that posts of postman were lying vacant for the past one year, thus increasing the workload on the existing staff.

There are 279 post offices under the Superintendent of Post Offices, Dehra, which includes two head post offices at Kangra and Dehra, 40 sub-post offices and 234 branch post offices. Assistant Superintendent of Post Offices SC Sharma said in the Kangra head post office, there were 21 sanctioned posts out of which four were lying vacant that included two of postmen.

The Kangra head post office is headed by a Grade-III postmaster without any appointment power. All appointing and recruitment powers remain with the superintendent post offices and assistant superintendent post offices, Dehra.

The sources said last year there were five postmen, but at the end of the year one of them retired and two were promoted without substitutes. One post was filled in October last year and two were yet to be filled.

SC Sharma, assistant superintendent of post offices, Dehra, said the examination for postal staff would be conducted in April to fill up the vacant posts, adding that tests for the clerical posts would be conducted soon.