Once a most sought after means of communication, postal service becomes passé now

-Bimal Bahadur Bista/RSS

            Doti: Gone are those days when postmen would deliver service at people’s doorsteps. But with the advent of modern communication means, postal service is nowadays taking a back seat.

            Post offices in the district are struggling to survive as people are switching to modern means of communications like telephone, fax and social networking sites.  They take these modern means of communications as fast and reliable service.

            At present, the district has around operating nine area post offices, 12 additional post offices, the district post office and the divisional post office.

            In the past, the post offices would provide service to Hetauda, Kathmandu, Jhapa, Nepalgunj, Bardiya, Chitwan, Dang, Kohalpur, Bhairahawa, Itahari, Morang, Birtamod, Pokhara, Kanchanpur, Mahendranagar, Attariya and Dhangadhi, among other places throughout the country.

            The regional post office would deliver approximately 3,000 parcels on a daily basis. But nowadays, it delivers only government documents.

            The staffers at the Division Postal Office at Rajpur, Doti have been compelled to send the empty postal dispatch as people are not sending letters and parcels through postal services lately.

            Chief of Division Postal Office, in Doti Jitendra BK shared that although the Office here has outreach service to all the Postal Offices in all districts of Sudurpaschim Province as well as to Kathmandu, not much service-seekers have opted for the postal services. As a result, the postal office here has been sending only official letter indicating there are no letters and parcels.  

            BK reasoned, “Due to the expansion of internet and other communication techniques where people could exchange their messages instantly and more conveniently, the usage of postal services was being on the wane or say becoming redundant. As a result we are sending empty mail.”

            Tek Bahadur Shah, a local of Dipayal Rajpur, observed, that the practice of exchanging letters has become a passe with the rapid development and penetration of information technology.

            Another local Dibya Pathak added that telephone, internet, fax and mobile services were becoming ubiquitous lately in their locality subsequently replacing the practice of sending hand-written mails and parcels by post.

            He questioned, “Who would turn to postal offices when one can work out the most important works over phone conversations and get the important documents exchanged through email services?”

            The Division Postal Office in Doti is currently operating on the basis of receiving and sending government related letters and courier services. Not much people turn to the Office here lately, once a very happening place with people mailing or receiving their letters and parcels, since the arrival and expansion of modern communication technologies among the mass consumers here began replacing the postal services.

            The staffers here also feel bored as there was not much work in their work stations. The staffers here opine that the local government ought to upgrade the Postal services (digitization and diversify its services) or shut it down rather than keeping it idle and deserted.

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