Question : IMPROVING POSTAL SERVICES

(a) whether the Government has undertaken a comprehensive review of the quality and efficiency of services provided by the postal department;

(b) if so, the details of the outcome thereof;

(c) whether the customers generally prefer private courier companies over the Department of Posts for delivery of their articles as there has been inordinate delays in delivery of articles on the part of the Department of Posts particularly the speed post letters to the rural and hilly regions;

(d) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and

(e) the measures taken by the Government to improve the quality and efficiency of postal services and to check its declining share and revenue?

THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI KAPIL SIBAL)

(a) to (e) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT TO BE LAID ON THE TABLE OF THE LOK SABHA IN RESPECT OF PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 224 FOR 13TH MARCH, 2013 REGARDING “IMPROVING POSTAL SERVICES”

(a) Yes, Madam.

(b) In order to improve quality and efficiency, the Department has reviewed its functioning and undertaken the following programmes to improve the quality of service:

(i) The Department of Posts has undertaken a Quality Improvement project called ‘Project Arrow’ which was launched in April, 2008. Project Arrow aims at comprehensive improvement of the core operations of Post Offices (set the core right) where postal transactions are done as well as the ambience (look and feel). Enhancing the quality of services in core areas lays focus on mail delivery, money remittances, savings bank and office service levels. This is intended to help the Department to emerge as a one-stop shop for retail products and offer a single window facility for banking, money remittances and other financial products and services including social and civil initiatives.

(ii) As part of operational requirement, the Department has restructured the mail network through the ‘Mail Network Optimization Project’ (MNOP) to streamline collection, processing, transmission and delivery of mails to improve the quality of mail services. Under the initiative, the Department has optimized Speed Post Network and set up 89 Sorting Hubs and 107 Intra-Circle Hubs.

(iii) Sevottam – a Service Delivery Excellence Model comprising of three modules namely; Citizen’s Charter containing service standards, a dynamic Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM) and achievement of Excellence in Service Delivery has been implemented by the Department. Under the project, Citizen’s Charter of the Department and computerized web-based Grievance Redress Mechanism, namely, Computerized Customer Care Centre (CCCC) were reviewed and upgraded. The upgraded GRM has been implemented in more than 14,000 offices of the Department. Service Quality Certification for selected operative offices has also been taken up in a phased manner.

(c)&(d) No data is available to substantiate the preference of customers for private courier companies over Department of Posts for delivery of articles. In order to ensure timely delivery, the Department has set up an extensive network to collect, process, transmit and deliver postal articles including Speed Post in urban, rural, hilly and inaccessible areas in the country. The cumulative traffic figures of unregistered, registered and Speed Post articles have increased from 658.31 crores in 2009-10 to 660.84 crores in 2010-11. The percentage of complaints to total mail traffic is 0.013% throughout the country. Such complaints are monitored and settled expeditiously in an ongoing process and this work is monitored at every level.

(e) To improve the quality and efficiency of postal services, the Department has taken a number of initiatives as indicated in reply to part (b) of the question. Restructuring of mail network for efficient and faster processing, transmission and delivery of mails, monitoring of mail routes and delivery through Test Letters and Trial Cards, Track and Trace facilities for Speed Post, sensitization of delivery staff by training and popularization of PIN Codes among mail users has been implemented. Online mail monitoring system has been developed and implemented for monitoring booking and delivery of Speed Post and Registered mails. Automatic Mail Processing Centres have been set up in Delhi and Kolkata. Monitoring of core area activities as per defined Key Performance Indicators (KPI) under Project Arrow is now extended to more than 18,600 Post Offices. The Department has evolved and implemented a comprehensive Citizen’s Charter containing service standards and dynamic Grievance Redress Mechanism to improve quality of services. As a result of these initiatives, total traffic of unregistered, registered and Speed Post articles has gone up from 658.31 crores in 2009-10 to 660.84 crores in 2010-11.