(a) whether the Government has reviewed the performance of postal, landline telephone and mobile services in the country;
(b) if so, the details and outcome thereof;
(c) whether the said services being provided to the consumers are inadequate;
(d) if so, the details thereof along with the number of postal employees in the country during the last three years and the current year, State-wise; and
(e) the corrective steps taken/being taken by the Government in this regard?
THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)
(a) Yes Madam, the review of performance of postal services provided by the Department of Posts is an on-going activity and is reviewed periodically at the level of Minister, Secretary, Postal Services Board, Postal Circles/ Regions & Divisions.
(b) Web-based monitoring mechanism has been developed by the Department for monitoring of various facilities i.e. Mails, Speed Post, Money Orders, Savings Bank, Postal Life Insurance and remittances. IT based Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been devised to review the performance of post offices and mail Offices. The Minister as well as Secretary, Department of Posts hold periodical meetings with the Senior officers of the Department to review the revenue, Project targets and the achievement of Postal Circles. Various new Plan schemes are being implemented & developed with the aims of improving the working of the Post offices.
(c) No Madam, Department of Posts, through its network of 1,54,856 Post offices and different Mails and Financial products is providing adequate services to the consumers, although continuous efforts are being made to further improve the services rendered through the Post offices.
(d) Post office delivers mails at the door steps of the consumers and the Post offices offer services like Speed Post, Parcels, Money orders and Small Savings and Postal Life Insurance. As on 01.06.2014, the number of Indian Postal Service Group A officers in the Department of Posts is 414. The number of other categories of Postal employees in the country during the last three years is attached as ‘Annexure-1’.
(e) Not Applicable, in case of Department of Posts.
With regard to landline telephone and mobile services in the country, TRAI has been monitoring the quality of service provided by various telecom service providers, against the benchmarks for the various quality of service parameters laid down by TRAI through Quality of Service Regulations issued from time to time, through Performance Monitoring Reports (PMRs) submitted by service providers. As per the performance monitoring reports submitted by access service providers for 2G Services, 3G Services and Basic Service (Wire line) for the quarter ending June 2014, some of the service providers are not meeting the benchmarks for some of the Quality of Service parameters in some of the service areas. The performance of service providers are analysed every quarter and the deficiencies in achieving the benchmarks are taken up with the service providers for improving Quality of Service. Also financial disincentives are imposed in cases where deficiencies in achieving the benchmarks are observed. TRAI has also engaged independent agencies to audit and Assess Quality of Service and to assess customer perception of service through surveys. The reports of these agencies are published on TRAI’s website for information of all stakeholders, which also force the service providers to improve the services.