MUMBAI, July 13: If the postman knocks just once, the mailman in Mumbai ignored every house on the block for the fifth consecutive day today.Empty counters greeted stragglers at the General Post Office (GPO) while noisy demonstrators sat on a dharna outside as the indefinite strike by postal employees continued uninterrupted. Home Guards posted for security lent a tired hand to sort out mail at some post offices where letters piled up in heaps. All 173 mail motor service vehicles stayed off the roads.Though the Department of Posts has opened counters to book money orders and Speed Post articles at 13 post offices, delivery is still badly hit. Transfer of money through VSAT took place between major cities and towns only. And with delivery severely curtailed, instruments of financial transactions addressed to destinations in the villages are being directed to the nearest cities and towns. "Inter-city transfer of money orders and Speed Post articles is running now," says Chief Post Master General AparnaMohile, admitting that services in rural areas is disrupted.Mumbai handles about 40 lakh postal articles every day, including more than 25,000 registered letters, 20,000 money orders and 40,000 Speed Post articles. The Savings Bank Department at the GPO itself facilitates transactions worth about Rs 50 lakh every day.Despite the strike's crippling effect on the city, services in Thane and Raigad districts were largely unaffected. "Many of them are working close to normal," Mohile claims. She, however, to comment on the alleged attack on a post-master, Yeshwant Sarvadekar, at Mahim yesterday, saying she had not received a report on it.Meanwhile, discussions are continuing between the striking employees' unions and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in Delhi, though the unions say they will not relent unless the authorities concede their 10-point charter of demands.Private courier services, where business is unusually brisk, have registered a 10-15 per cent increase over the last fivedays. However, complaints have been trickling alleging that some companies have raised their rates.Denying the allegation, Cleth Fernandez, a representative of Desk-to-Desk Couriers, says: "We have a fixed clientele of 130 major business firms at Nariman Point. Why should we lose them by increasing our rates?"Malcolm Monterio, senior vice-president (sales and systems) at Bluedart Couriers, feels the public is miffed with the prevailing rates. "We are priced at a premium, we do not need to go any further," he says.
