(a) whether orders/guidelines have been issued to all the postal sorting centres in the country following reports of spread of the deadly Anthrax causing bacteria through mail;
(b) whether sorting personnel have been supplied gloves and face masks and send all suspicious looking mail for proper examination;
(c) whether any mail items have been detected in this regard;
(d) if so, the details thereof; and
(e) the concrete measures taken by the Government to deal with the problem?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS (SHRI TAPAN SIKDAR)
(a) Yes, Sir.
(b) The postal staff handling foreign mails at Foreign post offices in New Delhi, Mumai, Kolkatta and Chennai have been provided with hand gloves and face masks.
(c) & (d): No real case of anthrax has been reported so far. However, 76 instances have been reported where post offices in the country have received letters with some powdery substance. The number of such letters received, Postal Circle-wise is as follows:-
Name of Postal Circle No. of suspected letters
Assam 1 Andhra Pradesh 2 Bihar 2 Chhatisgarh 1
Name of Postal Circle No. of suspected letters
Delhi 1 Jharkhand 13 Karnataka 4 Kerala 18 Maharashtra 8 North East 1 Punjab 3 Rajasthan 5 Tamil Nadu 5 U.P. 8 Uttaranchal 4
Total 76