Question : REVITALISATION OF DOP

(a) whether the Government has constituted a high level task force to examine revitalisation of the Department of Posts;

(b) if so, the terms of reference of said task force along with the salient features of the suggestion made by them;

(c) the details of action so far taken by the Government on various recommendations, recommendation-wise;

(d) whether the functioning of postal Department in many service areas has been economically unviable and Government in other fields; and

(e) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken in this regard so far?

THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

(a) Yes, Madam. A Task Force was constituted by the Department of Posts on 21.08.2014 to study and make recommendations regarding leveraging the post office network in India.

(b) The terms of reference of the Task Force are at Annexure ‘A’ and the salient features of the sugges- tions made by the Task Force are at Annexure ‘B’.

(c) The Task Force has given a total number of 181 recommendations which are broad based touching all aspects of the Department’s functioning. As such, consultations are required to be made with various stakeholders and for this purpose a group of senior officers has been constituted.

(d) & (e) The functioning of Department of Posts in many service areas has not been economically viable especially in rural, hilly, backward and remote areas as the Post Offices are being opened by the Department of Posts in Rural and Urban areas for providing basic postal services to the people and not in view of the commercial considerations. As per the norms (Annexure ‘C’) prescribed by the Department of Posts, Post offices are to be opened even if the percentage of Income to cost is 33 1/3% in normal rural areas and 15% in hilly/ desert areas for a Branch Post Office and the annual permissible loss is Rs 2,400/- in normal rural areas and Rs.4,800/- in hilly/ desert areas for a Sub Post Office. Thus, greater focus of the department is providing coverage of postal service in all parts of the country, and economic viability cannot be ensured in all areas especially rural, hilly, backward and remote areas.