Question : POST OFFICES IN RURAL AREAS

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (DR. SHAKEEL AHMAD)

(a) The number of Post Offices in rural areas of the country, Circle-wise, including those in Maharashtra, is given in Annexure-I.

(b) & (c): Post Offices are opened on the basis of distance, population and income norms and subject to availability of resources. The norms are given in Annexure-II.

(d) No, Sir.

(e) Does not arise in view of (d) above.

(f) Delivery of mails in rural areas is primarily undertaken through extra departmental delivery agents. There is no shortage of either extra departmental delivery men or postmen in relation to the workload in rural areas.

Annexure-I

State-wise number of Rural POs as on 31-03-2004

S.	Circle	No. of	No.	Rural Post Offices
1.	ANDHRA PRADESH	14845	2.	ASSAM	3709	3.	BIHAR	8622	4.	CHHATTISGARH	5397	5.	DELHI	81	6.	GUJARAT	8191	DAMAN & DIU	15	DADAR NAGAR HAVELI	37	7.	HARYANA	2329	8.	HIMACHAL PRADESH	2658	9.	JAMMU & KASHMIR	1495	10.	JHARKHAND	2772	11.	KARNATAKA	8582	12.	KERALA	4187	LAKSHDWEEP	10	MAHE	0	13.	MADHYA PRADESH	4995	14.	MAHARASHTRA	11294	GOA	204	15.	NORTH EAST	ARUNACHAL PRADESH	292	MANIPUR	686	MEGHALAYA	460	MIZORAM	337	NAGALAND	299	TRIPURA	659	16.	ORISSA	7572	17.	PUNJAB	3430	CHANDIGARH	7	18.	RAJASTHAN	9659	19.	TAMIL NADU	10153	PONDICHERRY	58	20.	UTTAR PRADESH	15693	21.	UTTARANCHAL	2496	22.	WEST BENGAL	7639	ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLAND	89	SIKKIM	197
TOTAL:	139149

Annexure-II

NORMS FOR OPENING POST OFFICES:

1. Norms for opening Extra Departmental Branch Post Offices:

1.1 Population:

(a) In Normal Areas:

3000 population in a group of villages (including the PPO village).

(b) In Hilly, Tribal, Desert and Inaccessible Areas: 500 population in an individual village or 1000 population in a group of villages.

1.2 Distance:

(a) In Normal Areas:

The minimum distance from the nearest existing post office will be 3 Kms.


(b) In Hilly, Tribal, Desert and Inaccessible Areas: The distance limit will be the same as above except that in Hilly Areas, the minimum distance limit can be relaxed by the Directorate in cases where such relaxation is warranted by special circumstances which should be clearly explained while submitting a proposal.

1.3 Anticipated Income:

(a) In Normal Areas:

The minimum anticipated revenue will be 33 1/3% of the cost.

(b) In Hilly, Tribal, Desert and Inaccessible Areas; The minimum anticipated income will be 15% of the cost.

It is further to be ensured that as a result of the opening of a new post office, the loss in respect of the parent post office does not increase beyond the permissible limit nor is its income reduced below the minimum prescribed.

2. Criteria for upgrading/opening Departmental Sub Post Offices.

(a) In Rural Areas:

The minimum work load of the Extra Departmental Branch Post Office, proposed to be upgraded, should be five hours per day. The permissible limit of annual loss is Rs. 2400/- in Normal Rural areas and Rs. 4800/- in Tribal and Hilly areas.

It is further to be ensured that as a result of the opening of a new post office, the loss in respect of the parent post office does not increase beyond the permissible limit nor is its income reduced below the minimum prescribed.

(b) In Urban Areas:

In Urban areas, the post office should initially be self-supporting, and, at the time of the first annual review, it should show a 5% profit to be eligible for further retention.

The minimum distance between two post office should be 1.5 Kms. in cities with a population of 20 lakhs and above, and 2 Kms. in other Urban Areas. No two delivery offices, however, should be closer than 5 Kms. for each other.

Heads of Circles have powers to relax the distance condition in 10% of the cases.

A Delivery Post Office in Urban Area should have a minimum of 7 Postmen`s beats.