IMPHAL, January 7: Despite the recent uproar over inordinate delay in delivery of a mail to an addressee in Ukhrul, Speed Post, the government owned courier service in the state continues to be erratic with impunity.
The Imphal head office of the service is currently in a glut of undelivered mails and parcels, some of them weeks old.
The Imphal Head Office claim this unmanageable backlog at its office currently is on account the Kolkata NHS suddenly releasing several weeks mail all at once after holding them up for two weeks at the Airport.
An addressee complained to IFP that a set of books purchased from online retailer Amazon India on December 19 by her father has still not reached her.
Using the internet parcel tracking facilities of both Amazon India and India Post, the parcel is indicated as booked with the Kadugodi Extension SO in Karnataka on December 20.
The track events for the parcel, on the website of India Post, which boasts the capability of delivering mails and parcels anywhere in India in 24 to 48 hours, has the following details.
The parcel was booked on December 20m at 9:28am at R Kadugodi Extension SO. The bag containing the parcel was dispatched for NHS Kolkata Airport at 4:09pm the same day. The bag was received at NSH Kolkata Airport the next day, December 21, at 3:33pm. From there the bag was dispatched to NSH Imphal the same day at 7:46pm.
The delay begins thereon. The tracking facility show NHS Imphal receiving the bag on January 1, at 12:32pm, 10 days after the NHS Kolkata Airport claims it was dispatched from its office.
The question is, why was the Speed Post bag held up for 10 days in the Kolkata Airport? Or was it allowed to pile up at the NHS Imphal all the while.
The internet tracking facility shows NHS Imphal opened the bag and dispatched the parcel to Imphal H.O. on the same day at 3:59pm.
The bag was received at Imphal H.O. on January 2, at 9:44am, opened at 9:45am. January 2 is a Friday, but the having received the parcel early in the morning, the Imphal HO failed to deliver the parcel to the addressee.
The Speed Post parcel, though lying in the Imphal HO is still not delivered even after a week since it came to be in the custody of the Imphal HO.
When the addressee`™s father called the Imphal HO Speed Post department at 2452239, the lady answering the call explained it was the delay from Kolkata which has resulted in a huge piling up at the Imphal HO, and her office is frantically trying to clear the pile.
She suggested the addressee should come to the Imphal HO and collect the parcel.
Given the circumstance, this may be reasonable, but the question is should the matter be allowed to be forgotten without a proper inquiry. After all, the postal service employees are paid from public tax money, and Speed Post tariff is higher than ordinary mail or registered posts precisely because of the promise they would be delivered swiftly, the addressee said.
According to India Post`™s own advertisements, Speed Post mails are guaranteed delivery within 24 hours to most destinations in India and 48 maximum to some destinations.
Yet, nearly 20 days after this particular parcel began its Speed Post journey from Karnataka, it has still not reached its destination.
It is only to be imagined what the plights of addressees who might be waiting for urgent mails on which things as important as careers could depend.
Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/01/inordinate-delays-speed-post-mails-and-parcels-continue/