KARACHI: 4 post offices to remain open round the clock
By Bahzad Alam Khan
KARACHI, Nov 5: The Pakistan Post Office has made four outlets in the city operational round the clock. These post offices will not only handle incoming and outgoing mail but will also receive utility bills.
The Sindh postmaster general, Mohammad Ahmad Mian, told Dawn on Wednesday that in the first phase Defence post office, Bahadurabad post office, Jinnah Terminal post office and Al-Haidery post office had started working 24 hours a day. ”This decision has been taken in view of the cosmopolitan nature of Karachi where a large number of people stay awake whole night. Since we had the surplus staff required to make these post offices functional round the clock, we decided to go ahead with this move in phases,” he said.
He added that in the next phase two post offices on Sharea Faisal, one in Saddar and one in Gulshan-i-Iqbal would be made operational 24 hours a day.
PPO officials said that security of these post offices would be a big problem. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, they pointed out that in the past many post offices had been robbed. They feared that if these post offices were not provided tight security, this move would not become successful.
The Sindh postmaster general said the PPO had initiated the move after obtaining permission from the State Bank. ”Banks receiving utility bills have already indicated to the State Bank of Pakistan that they do not want to continue this facility. Their complaint is that collection of utility bills engages a large number of their staff and they do not earn a lot from the bills,” he said.
He said that like the banks the PPO would receive Rs2 per bill from the gas, telephone and power utilities.
Sources told Dawn that the PPO was also responsible for the delivery of phone bills in the city. “Under a contract, the PPO distributes half of the bills of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company. The PPO pays Rs2 per bill to the staff tasked to distribute the phone bills. At least Rs0.74 goes to postmen who distribute the bills and Rs0.25 to sorters,” they explained.
It may be recalled that the PPO, which remained a loss-making public utility for years, has finally started to operate at a profit.
PPO officials told Dawn on Wednesday that in the year ending June 2003 the postal department had earned a profit of Rs280 million. They added that the previous year the profit of the postal department had totalled Rs220 million.
The PPO officials were at pains to make clear that any upward revision in postal tariff was not responsible for the rise in profits. They pointed out that the postal tariff had been last changed in March 2001.
“The postal department is following a two-pronged strategy. On the one hand, it has enhanced its cooperation with the private sector. On the other, it is taking legal action against those private sector courier companies which deprive the postal department of its
legitimate business,” they explained.
