Question : Modernisation of Post Offices

(a) the status of modernization, upgradation of the Post Offices particularly in rural areas;

(b) the total investment made in the project during the last two years and the current year, year-wise and State/UTs-wise;

(c) the time by which the modernisation/upgradation of all the Post Offices is likely to be completed including in Assam; and

(d) the new scope of activities assigned to the Post Offices under the modernization process?

Answer given by the minister

THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS &
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a) & (b) Madam, the current status of modernization, upgradation of the Post Offices particularly in rural areas under Information Technology (IT) Modernization project of Department of Posts is at Annexure A.

The IT Modernization Project of Department of Posts is pan India programme and implementation of this project is centrally monitored and the expenditure on account of this Project is made centrally. No expenditure is incurred State/UTs-wise. The expenditure incurred for the Project for the last two years and the current year till January-2017 is furnished below:-

Year Expenditure
( In Crores of Rs)
2014-15 88.84
2015-16 307.19
2016-17
(Till January 17) 163.19


The look and feel of the Post offices is also being modernized and upgraded under “Project Arrow” programme. The number of post offices covered under the above project and funds spent thereon Postal Circle wise is at Annexure B & C.

An amount of Rs.42 Crore was also spent for procurement of Desktop Computers for supply to post offices in the year 2015-16 and Rs.82.49 Crores has been earmarked for supply of Computers and other hardware to post offices for the year 2016-17. Circle wise details of supply of hardware are at Annexure D.

Department of Posts is also implementing a Plan Scheme - “Rural Business and Access to Postal Network” under which basic infrastructure equipments like table, chair, almirah, signage boards and cash chests are provided to rural branch post offices to meet the basic infrastructure requirements. Postal Circle wise details of funds made available are at Annexure E.

(c) Implementation of the IT Modernization Project, including Assam, is likely to be completed by December-2017.

(d) As new scope of activities, the Department of Post has set up India Post Payments Bank as a Public Limited Company with 100% Government equity under the Department of Posts. The Payments bank will leverage the physical and IT infrastructure of the Post office and will focus on low-cost, low-risk, technology based solutions to extend access to formal banking especially in rural, un-banked and under-banked areas.

The India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has launched two branches in Raipur and Ranchi on 30/01/2017 with limited banking services in partnership with Punjab National Bank.

Annexure A
<pre>
Sl No. Name of the segment & its scope Present position
( as on 31-1-17) Expected time lines for completion
1 Change Management (CM): Preparing the workforce for the complete change in Departments’ working after implementation of IT Project. Training activities are in progress. Completed
2 Data Centre Facility ( DCF): Hosting Primary Data centre and building Disaster Recovery centre for the DoP Data Centre is operational from 3rd April 2013 at Navi Mumbai. DRC has been powered on at Mysore on 15th May, 2015. Completed
3 Financial Services Integrator (FSI): Implementation of solutions for Core Banking and Core Insurance in all Post Offices. Providing multiple delivery channels- internet banking, mobile banking, ATM and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and SMS etc. Core Banking Solution (CBS) in 23147 post offices and Core Insurance Solution (CIS - PLI) in 25406 post offices have been implemented. 970 ATMs have been installed at various locations. Roll out completed in all technically feasible Post offices having network availability.
4 Net work Integrator (NI): Providing connectivity for each departmental post office location in order to ensure uninterrupted network connectivity through one single WAN 28259 locations have been net worked on a single Wide Area Net work (WAN). Roll out is being completed in all technically feasible locations
5 Core System Integrator (CSI): Implementation of the solutions for Mail Operation, Retail, logistic Post, Philately, Finance and Accounts & Human Resources and integration with other SIs. Implementation has started. Pilot roll out has been completed in Mysore Division of Karnataka Circle. Further roll out in Pune in Maharashtra circle has started on 23-1-17. Scheduled to be completed by December-17
6
Rural Hardware (RH): Providing connectivity, hardware & solar power panels to Branch Post Offices in rural areas.
Rural System Integrator (RSI): Implementation of the solution for integrating all the FSI/CSI applications to the Branch Post Offices. Dispatch of Rural Information & Communication Technology (RICT) Hand Held Devices has started. So far 20003 main computing devices have been dispatched to BOs.
8729 Rural Branch Post Offices have been rolled out. Roll out is taken up in phased manner. Likely to be completed by December-17
7 Mail Operation Hardware (MOH): Providing hardware to Mail Offices and handheld devices to Postmen. Procurement of Mail Operations Hardware is in progress. Supply of Desk top computers has been completed. Supply of UPS, weighing scale and Generator sets is in progress and in its final stage. Procurement of Tag Printers, Barcode Scanners and Postmen handheld devices is in progress. Likely to be completed by March-17


ANNEXURE-B
Number of Post Offices covered under ‘Look & Feel’ state/UT wise under Project Arrow:

Circle In Rural Areas
In Urban Areas
Total Offices covered
AP 52 97 149
Assam 23 45 68
Bihar 119 58 177
Chhattisgarh 2 50 52
Delhi 0 98 98
Gujarat 34 135 169
HP 13 44 57
Haryana 8 61 69
J&K 01 46 47
Jharkhand 15 52 67
Karnataka 101 72 173
Kerala 53 89 142
MP 15 205 220
Maharashtra 48 200 248
Odisha 57 93 150
Punjab 16 85 101
Rajasthan 75 180 255
Tamilnadu 109 183 292
UP 50 195 245
Uttarakhand 12 49 61
W Bengal 41 126 167
Telangana 24 72 96
Daman & Diu 0 2 2
Pondicherry 3 4 7
Goa 1 9 10
Chandigarh 0 12 12
Mizoram 8 7 15
Nagaland 16 5 21
Meghalaya 12 13 25
Arunachal Pradesh 10 12 22
Tripura 17 19 36
Manipur 8 9 17
Sikkim 1 1 2
Andaman and Nicobar 0 1 1
Lakshadweep 1 0 1
Total 945
2329
3274



























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ANNEXURE-C
State/UT wise details of Funds utilized during 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17
Circle Year
2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 (as on 31.01.2017)
AP 135.20 104.40 10.0
Assam 0 139.0 0
Bihar 226.23 318.85 0
Chhattisgarh 21.52 34.01 0
Delhi 20.38 35.08 12.19
Gujarat 235.03 237.50 8.42
HP 41.52 46.40 2.36
Haryana 27.62 41.51 5.80
J&K 11.05 28.63 0
Jharkhand 5.25 39.42 0
Karnataka 337 268.79 36.60
Kerala 38.17 218.93 25.170
MP 197.27 180.30 11.05
Maharashtra 414.95 289 0
Odisha 245.79 173.35 0
Punjab 156.34 93.02 0
Rajasthan 268.22 173.38 24.40
Tamilnadu 322.48 150.24 12.20
UP 334.70 271.97 0.84
Uttarakhand 0 28.66 0
W Bengal 105.31 172.71 19.80
Telangana 86.92 69.60 0
Daman & Diu 0 0 0
Pondicherry 0 0 0
Goa 0 0 0
Chandigarh 39.1 23.25 2.6
Mizoram 0 5.01 0
Nagaland 0 10.34 17.23
Meghalaya 0 28.34 3.76
Arunachal Pradesh 0 37.80 8.38
Tripura 0 45.66 0
Manipur 0 32.55 0
Sikkim 0 0 0
Anadaman and Nicobar 0 0 0
Lakshadweep 0 0 0
Total 3270.05
3297.7
200.8
































ANNEXURE – D
The break-up showing supply of hardware during 2015-16 is as follows:
<pre>
Sl No. Name of the Circle No. of Computers supplied from Non-Plan funds No. of computers procured by Circles under Project Arrow Plan funds Total
1 Andhra Pradesh
(including Telangana) 525 137 662
2 Assam 168 208 376
3 Bihar 248 129 377
4 Chattisgarh 85 --- 85
5 Delhi 218 --- 218
6 Gujarat 504 --- 504
7 Haryana 163 73 236
8 Himachal Pradesh 143 --- 143
9 Jammu & Kashmir 67 --- 67
10 Jharkhand 147 --- 147
11 Karnataka 560 --- 560
12 Kerala 526 --- 526
13 Madhya Pradesh 275 --- 275
14 Maharashtra 843 137 980
15 North East 93 555 648
16 Odisha 262 ---- 262
17 Punjab 279 ---- 279
18 Rajasthan 295 ---- 295
19 Tamilnadu 893 --- 893
20 Uttar Pradesh 598 137 735
21 Uttarakhand 139 --- 139
22 West Bengal 205 62 267
TOTAL 7236 1438 8674


















2016-17
Laser Printers (Already supplied) Pass Book Printers (Under supply)
All Circles including Assam 13500
17000

Assam Circle 222
298


</pre>











ANNEXURE - E
<pre>
Postal Circle-wise Plan Funds allocated for infrastructure equipments, signages and cash chests to rural Branch Post Offices(BOs) under the Plan Scheme - "Rural Business & Access to Postal Network" during last two financial years and current financial year 2016-17
Sl. No. Postal Circles Funds allocated for basic Infrastructure Equipments, Signages and Cash Chests (amount in Rupees)

2014-15 2015-16 2016-17
1 Andhra Pradesh including Telangana 24009500 23074370 7825000
2 Assam 18620000 4240000 2900000
3 Bihar 14031000 19302500 7186000
4 Chhattisgarh 4603000 5255000 1916000
5 Delhi 446500 650000 73000
6 Gujarat including Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu 12513500 12307500 4248000
7 Haryana 3202500 3667000 889000
8 Himachal Pradesh 3852500 3980000 1429000
9 Jammu & Kashmir 2252500 2663000 913000
10 Jharkhand 4255000 4805000 1620000
11 Karnataka 14630000 13441000 4760000
12 Kerala including Lakshadweep 4997500 5351500 1821000
13 Madhya Pradesh 17665000 14005500 5178000
14 Maharashtra 26537500 19374500 7522000
15 North East [States include Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura] 14616500 3360000 7803000
16 Odisha 11317500 12081000 4168000
17 Punjab including Chandigarh 5402000 5316000 1920000
18 Rajasthan 14935000 14678000 4977000
19 Tamil Nadu including Puducharry 13941500 14772500 5112000
20 Uttar Pradesh 17353500 17068000 5610000
21 Uttarakhand 4026500 5265000 1773000
22 West Bengal including Sikkim and Andaman& Nicobar Islands 14058500 21460000 4629500
Total 247267000 226117370 84272500
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