AT YOUR SERVICE!: Post Master General (Vijayawada) B.V. Sudhakur releasing a special cover to mark the 20th anniversary of Speed Post in Vijayawada on Tuesday. — PHOTO: RAJU. V.

VIJAYAWADA : Payment of various utility bills will become easier now. It can be done without stepping out of home.

The postal department, which is fast shedding its traditional image of a snail-mail deliverer by launching a slew of customer-friendly schemes, is launching in a fortnight a scheme called `Takshanam' (instant). Under the scheme, staff from nearby post office will help people in clearing their various bills at the nearest eSeva centre.

Only Rs. 5

"Our staff will come to your doorstep to collect the bill along with money. They will pay it at the eSeva centre and handover the receipt. All this will cost just Rs. 5," postmaster general of Vijayawada region B. V. Sudhakur said on Tuesday.

He released a special cover on business development to mark the formal inauguration of postal week celebrations. The release also coincides with the 20th anniversary of Speed Post service. The weeklong celebrations commenced on Monday with the theme - `The Post Reaching Everyone Everywhere' and a rider `Earning customers' confidence through total quality worldwide'."With this, we have set in motion the process of extending need-based services to a range of customers," said Mr. Sudhakur.

Fragrance stamps

He said release of `fragrance' stamps (stamps exuding the smell of sandal wood) was also in the offing. Initially, about 30 lakh stamps, with each priced at Rs.10, would be released. The department was gearing up to open a new sub-post office at Currency Nagar in the city on October 16. Mr. Sudhakur said he was working on the instructions received from his higher-ups for the setting up of franchisee postal services, of which at least seven would be in Guntur and Vijayawada cities.

The International Money Transfer (IMT) mode was a huge hit with the service showing a growth of over 100 per cent every year.

In the fiscal 2003, the department witnessed 4,400 transactions through this service, which rose to 8,800 in 2004. The next year (2005), the number of transactions further increased to 21,000 and in the current year, the department had already carried out 27,000 transactions . Mr. Sudhakur said a daily logistic post service was launched between Vijayawada and Tadepalligudem. The department was doing well in all the key areas of physical, financial and electronic transactions.

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