Postal dept offers 24-hour booking to send Rakhi gifts

: Considering the heavy traffic of mail during the August 19 Raksha Bandhan festival, the postal department has introduced 24-hour booking facilities in major cities of Gujarat to ferry gifts.

People can utilise the 24-hour facilities at Ahmedabad (National Sorting Hub in Shahibaug), Rajkot (Railway Mail Services), Surat (Railway Mail Services) and Vadodara (Railway Mail Services) till Raksha Bandhan, office of the Assistant Director Postal Services (Mails), Gujarat Circle, stated. Special waterproof envelopes at Rs 10 have been made available for sale at all post offices. Sturdy, but not waterproof envelopes, are also available at important post offices.

The office said that special arrangement for dispatch of the articles booked during the extended booking hours has been made to ensure speedier delivery. To ensure that the Rakhis are delivered by August 19, special delivery will be arranged on August 18, it added. On August 13, 14, 16 and 17, booking of speed post articles has been extended till 8 pm in all major post offices of Gujarat, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.