THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)
(a) State-wise number of Post Offices functional in both urban and rural areas of the country including Maharashtra and Rajasthan (as on 31.03.2015) are at Annexure-I.
The criteria/ norms for opening of new post offices in rural areas are at Annexure-II.
(b) For desert and hilly areas, the criteria are different whereas for coastal area, the general norms for opening of post offices in rural areas are applicable.
(c) The details of distance, population and income criteria applicable for opening of new post offices in desert, hilly, tribal and inaccessible areas are at Annexure-III.
(d) & (e) Review of expansion of post offices is an on-going process. On review, if it is found that opening of new post offices are justified in particular areas as per prescribed norms for opening of new post offices, post offices are opened in those areas by relocation & redeployment under Plan Scheme.
As regards telecommunication projects, various schemes are implemented with the financial support from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) for expansion of telecom services in rural and remote areas, details are at Annexure-IV.
The details of proposals received for opening and upgradation of post offices in the country are at Annexure-V. At present, there is no proposal under consideration for opening of district level post office in Udiapur (Rajasthan).
(f) There are 796 eminent personalities on whom postage stamps have been released till date.
The Government has proposed to set up India Post Payments Bank as a Public Limited Company with 100% Government equity under the Department of Posts. Reserve Bank of India has given “in-principle approval” for setting up the Payment Bank. The Payments Bank will leverage infrastructure of the post office to extend basic banking services such as payments, remittances, current & savings accounts and third party products especially in rural, un-banked and under-banked areas.
Annexure-I
State/UT and Category-wise Number of Post Offices functional in the country (as on 31.3.2015)
Sl.No Name of the State/UT HOs SOs EDBOs Total Total No. of Post Offices
Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural
1 Andhra Pradesh 56 3 583 950 134 8649 773 9602 10375
1.1 Telangana 35 1 388 429 159 4768 582 5198 5780
2 Assam 19 0 211 396 135 3251 365 3647 4012
3 Bihar 30 1 398 622 45 7971 473 8594 9067
4 Chhattisgarh 10 0 238 99 20 2780 268 2879 3147
5 Delhi 12 0 387 4 69 79 468 83 551
6 Gujarat 34 0 655 639 94 7504 783 8143 8926
6.1 Dadra & Nagar Haveli 0 0 1 3 0 34 1 37 38
6.2 Daman & Diu 0 0 4 3 1 11 5 14 19
7 Haryana 16 0 301 180 28 2152 345 2332 2677
8 Himachal Pradesh 15 3 97 351 6 2310 118 2664 2782
9 Jammu & Kashmir 9 0 163 93 25 1409 197 1502 1699
10 Jharkhand 13 0 221 222 30 2613 264 2835 3099
11 Karnataka 58 0 817 837 179 7776 1054 8613 9667
12 Kerala 45 6 473 974 334 3222 852 4202 5054
12.1 Lakshadweep 0 0 6 3 0 1 6 4 10
12.2 Mahe 0 0 1 0 3 0 4 0 4
13 Madhya Pradesh 43 0 688 332 104 7156 835 7488 8323
14 Maharashtra 58 1 1081 971 102 10388 1241 11360 12601
14.1 Goa 2 0 45 57 7 147 54 204 258
15 North East 9 0 137 189 82 2503 228 2692 2920
16 Odisha 35 0 502 661 56 6915 593 7576 8169
17 Punjab 21 0 371 329 12 3074 404 3403 3807
17.1 Chandigarh 1 0 38 2 2 6 41 8 49
18 Rajasthan 47 1 585 716 27 8953 659 9670 10329
19 Tamil Nadu 93 0 1386 1312 344 8899 1823 10211 12034
19.1 Pondicherry 1 0 24 10 13 48 38 58 96
20 Uttarakhand 13 0 180 200 14 2316 207 2516 2723
21 Uttar Pradesh 72 0 1604 867 249 14863 1925 15730 17655
22 West Bengal 45 0 924 743 118 6929 1087 7672 8759
22.1 A & n Islands 1 0 10 16 1 72 12 88 100
22.2 Sikkim 1 0 11 11 0 186 12 197 209
Total 794 16 12530 12221 2393 126985 15717 139222 154939
Annexure-II
CRITERIA / NORMS FOR OPENING OF NEW POST OFFICES IN RURAL AREAS
1. Norms for opening of Branch Post Offices (BOs):
1.1 Population:
In Normal Rural Areas:
3000 population in the group of villages to be served by the proposed post office (including 1000 population in the proposed post office village).
1.2 Distance:
In Normal Rural Areas: The minimum distance from the nearest existing post office should be 3 Kms.
1.3 Anticipated Income:
In Normal Rural Areas: The minimum anticipated revenue will be 33.33 % of the cost. It is further to be ensured that as a result of opening of a new BO, the loss in respect of the parent post office does not increase beyond the permissible limit nor does its income reduce below the minimum prescribed.
2. Norms for upgrading/ opening of Departmental Sub Post Offices (SOs):
In Normal Rural Areas: The minimum work load of the BOs proposed to be upgraded, should be five hours per day. The permissible limit of annual loss in normal rural areas is Rs.2,400/-
It is further to be ensured that as a result of opening of a new post office, the loss in respect of the parent post office does not increase beyond the permissible limit nor does its income reduce below the minimum prescribed.
Annexure-III
CRITERIA / NORMS FOR OPENING OF NEW POST OFFICES IN HILLY, TRIBAL, DESERT AND INACCESSIBLE AREAS
1. Norms for opening of Branch Post Offices (BOs):
1.1 Population:
In Hill, Tribal, Desert and Inaccessible Areas:
500 Population in the individual village and 1000 population in the group of villages.
1.2 Distance:
In Hill, Tribal, Desert and Inaccessible Areas: The minimum distance limit from the nearest existing post office should be 3 km. However, in Hilly, Tribal and Inaccessible areas, the minimum distance limit can be relaxed by the Postal Directorate in cases where such relaxation is warranted by special circumstances which should be clearly explained while submitting a proposal.
1.3 Anticipated Income:
In Hill, Tribal, Desert and Inaccessible Areas: The minimum anticipated income will be 15% of the cost.
2. Norms for upgrading/ opening of Departmental Sub Post Offices (SOs):
In Hill, Tribal, Desert and Inaccessible Areas: The minimum work load of the BOs proposed to be upgraded, should be five hours per day. The permissible limit of annual loss in normal rural areas is Rs.4,800/-
It is further to be ensured that as a result of opening of a new BO, the loss in respect of the parent post office does not increase beyond the permissible limit nor does its income reduce below the minimum prescribed.
Annexure-IV
Details of schemes being implemented by the Department of Telecommunications for expansion of telecom services in rural and
remote areas
(i) National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN): National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project was planned, in 2011, to connect all Gram Panchayats (approx. 2.5 lakh) in the country through Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) utilizing existing fibres of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) viz. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) and RailTel and laying incremental fiber wherever necessary to bridge the connectivity gap between Gram Panchayats (GPs) and Blocks for providing broadband connectivity. The project is being executed by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), namely, Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL), which has been incorporated on 25.02.2012 under Indian Companies Act, 1956. Under this project, at least 100 Mbps bandwidth has to be provided in all the estimated 2.5 lakh GPs for utilization by all categories of service providers on non-discriminatory basis including Internet Service Providers. State-wise status of NOFN, as on 31.01.2016, is given at Appendix-I.
(ii) Telecom Connectivity in LWE Affected Areas: Government has approved the project on 20.08.2014 to provide Mobile services in 2,199 locations [1,836 new sites & 363 sites already installed by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)] in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The estimated project implementation cost is Rs.3,567.58 crore, to be funded from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF). BSNL has been nominated to execute the project. As on 15.02.2016, 1,431 mobile towers are radiating out of 2,199 mobile towers.
Appendix-I (to Annexure-IV)
State-wise Status of NOFN (Bharat Net) as on 31.01.2016
<pre>
Sl. No. States/ UTs No. of Gram Panchayats (GPs) - Phase I Pipe laid ( in kms.) Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) laid (in kms) No. of GPs where OFC laid No. of GPs lit
1. Jammu & Kashmir 624 93 69 47 0
2. Himachal Pradesh 283 201 75 14 0
3. Punjab 6128 4432 3280 2055 0
4. Haryana 6090 4775 4340 2776 45
5. Rajasthan 6967 11281 10065 3092 71
6. Chandigarh 12 18 19 12 12
7. Uttarakhand 1767 1190 862 554 46
8. UP (West) 8040 8095 4290 2055 65
9. UP (East) 14474 14634 10545 4764 36
10. Bihar 5202 6416 5303 1936 124
11. West Bengal 2713 1933 1683 619 0
12. Sikkim 0 0 0 0 0
13. Assam 1013 1751 1359 515 23
14. Jharkhand 1388 2600 1862 770 84
15. Odisha 3388 4086 2960 1355 12
16. Andaman & Nicobar 69 0 0 0 0
17. Arunachal Pradesh 256 272 69 10 0
18. Nagaland 743 1160 509 154 0
19. Manipur 24 71 73 24 0
20. Meghalaya 638 737 210 47 0
21. Tripura 1021 1277 951 434 40
22. Mizoram 163 183 0 0 0
23. Madhya Pradesh 10516 15531 12134 3898 26
24. Chhattishgarh 2110 4368 3913 1258 171
25. Gujarat 5735 5508 3572 1648 91
26. Maharashtra 12055 11078 7826 3478 37
27. Daman & Diu 0 0 0 0 0
28. Dadra & Nagar Haveli 0 0 0 0 0
29. Karnataka 5599 9596 9248 4348 2283
30. Andhra Pradesh 0 1913 19 0 0
31. Telangana 2097 3912 2883 1296 5
32. Tamil Nadu 0 0 0 0 0
33. Kerala 977 746 810 1129 1129
34. Pudducherry 98 82 92 98 101
35. Lakshadweep 10 0 0 0 0
36. Goa* - - - - -
Total 100200
117939
89021
38386
4401
</pre>
* All the GPs of Goa are already connected with Optical Fibre.
Annexure-V
Postal Circle-wise number of proposals received for opening & upgradation of post offices
<pre>
Sl. No. Name of the Postal Circles No. of proposals received
1 Andhra Pradesh 17
2 Assam 02
3 Bihar 17
4 Chhattisgarh 12
5 Delhi 32
6 Gujarat including Daman & Diu and Dadar & Nagar Haveli 07
7 Haryana 06
8 Himachal Pradesh 23
9 Jammu & Kashmir 0
10 Jharkhand 01
11 Karnataka 11
12 Kerala including Lakshadweep 07
13 Madhya Pradesh 10
14 Maharashtra including Goa 21
15 North East
[States includes Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura) 24
16 Odisha 10
17 Punjab including Chandigarh 12
18 Rajasthan 05
19 Tamil Nadu including Pudducherry 11
20 Telangana 13
20 Uttarakhand 04
21 Uttar Pradesh 13
22 West Bengal including Sikkim 11
Total 269
</pre>
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