RSS Feed (xml)
decreases by one crore a year— thanks to the fast-growing mobile
telephony and Internet services that became the quickest and easiest
mode of communication. As nations around the world observe the
World Postal Day on Friday, designated since 1874 to underline the
importance of mail service, many kept wondering whether it would
survive as an indispensible communication utility. Such fears
about a decaying postal service stem from the stunning development of
new communication technologies, particularly mobile telephony and
Internet—the wonderful information superhighways that are shaping
today's knowledge-based world of business and academia. Postal
department officials say they get fewer letters for dispatch these
days as people now hardly write letters to their near and dear ones.
Their landline telegraph and telephone systems seem to have become
redundant too. Bangladesh Post Office director general Mobasherur
Rahman told bdnews24.com that they now handle some 15 to 16 crore
letters a year. 'We used to handle 20 crore letters a year five
to six years ago and 24 crore letters 10 years ago,' he said. But
delivery of letters came down by about 10 crore in last 10 years, the
DG said. Rahman said the total number of letters decreased as the
number of personal letters came down. Most people these days
simply do not write letters; they would rather prefer to use mobile
phones and e-mail which are easy, cheap and convenient, he said.
Modern technologies like mobile phones and internet and the couriers
service which are easily available to people are blamed for the bad
days for the postal service. Though courier services cost a bit
higher, people prefer them as they ensure safe and quick dispatch of
letters, parcels and money. Over the years, the postal service has
become inefficient, slow and even corrupt, people who had bitter
experience in dealing with postal department complained. 'There is
no assurance that letters sent through post offices will reach the
address in time,' said Shamsul Huq, a retired government employee
who lives in a village in Savar, near Dhaka. 'In many cases, letters
sent through the post office were lost.' Telegram and telex
services also became redundant in this age of cellphone and internet
communication. And people prefer cellphones to landline telephones,
which is largely a state monopoly in Bangladesh, because they are
easier to get connection, efficient and above all, cheap.
Mahbubuddin Khokan, a member of parliament from Noakhali on Thursday
proposed in the House for reactivating two old post offices in his
constituency. Authorities are also expanding and diversifying the
services of postal department, introducing different kinds of
services, officials said. The postal department is now providing
services like transferring money through mobile phone, delivering
remittances sent by expatriates workers, handling passport
application forms and fees, depositing money in savings accounts,
releasing prize bonds in the market, selling revenue stamps and
payment of utility bills. The DG Post Office said they would soon
introduce cash cards the subscribers of which would be able to
withdraw money from post offices with ATM cards like the clients of
the commercial banks do. Courier services, though a bit costly,
have become popular over the years, lugging significant numbers of
letters and parcels from one place to other. Mobasherur Rahman
informed that as many as four to five crore letters are dispatched
through courier services a year. 'We are making efforts to bring
many changes in our service to compete with courier service... To
provide quick services and efficient we have started the process of
recruiting some 2,850 people,' he said. The DG said the number of
departmental post offices is over 1,600, rural or extra departmental
post offices are 8,000. The postal department employs as many as
17, 000 full-time staff and over 24,000 part-time workers. The
postal system was introduced during the rule of Kutubuddin Aibek
(1206-1210) from Delhi to Subah (province) of Bengal. Those early
postal services were run through fast galloping horsemen relaying the
mails to the remote corners. But Postal system was modernized
during the British period with the introduction of many services –
railway mail was introduced in 1864, money order in 1880, express
telegram in 1909 and air mail was introduced in 1933.
