Vashi, the last post

The situation would have been amusing but for its morbid side. A letter dated July 12 from Ratnagiri, informing D V Chougule of Sector 13 that his aunt was seriously ill, reached him on December 1, after his aunt died. Chougule had to also grapple with the misunderstanding that he had `forgotten’ his relatives due to his affluence. “I am not alone in facing this problem. In my colony itself, almost everyone does not receive their mail regularly,” he says.

Said a sorter, “Hundreds of parcels and bags containing over 20 to 25 lakh are lying unsorted for more than a month.” Sub-postmaster S B Raul refused to comment, saying he had orders asking him “ not to speak to the press.” Ironically, Raul, who was deputed to the post office by his senior Pavitran at the Panvel Division Office, is actually a public relations officer, and is allegedly inept at handling the present responsibility. Pavitran also did not comment.

Not that the present staff strength makes anyone’s job easy. Only 42 postmen and 7 sorters handle an average of 60 bags of letters daily, containing at least 200 to 2,000 packets and letters; the workload actually requires at least 100 postmen. This is the moot point over which the postmen are agitating. Said Vilas Salunke, secretary-in-charge of the New Bombay Division, which covers Konkan Bhavan, Nerul, Vashi and New Panvel postal staff, the government has made no recruitment for the last ten years, increasing the burden on existing staff. “Ever since the increase of workload due to the shifting of the wholesale market and the rapid pace of development in areas like Sanpada, Sector 26, 29 and 14 of Vashi and Kopar Khairane, postmen were given an allowance of Rs 35 a day for their `extension beat,”’ he revealed. This was unilaterally withdrawn by the department last month. “Now, the staff has launched a work-to-rule agitation which has further increased the amount of pending mail, as only one-tenth of the mail is sorted and delivered daily,” he says.

He also points out that residents have failed to install post boxes despite a Supreme Court ruling asking them to do so if they live above the second floor. “This, coupled with the fact that many letters do not have the pin code written properly, makes our jobs much more difficult, considering we are short by nearly 30 postmen,” informed Salunke.