THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (DR. SHAKEEL AHMAD)
(a) No, Sir. The services have not become
substandard and unsatisfactory as can be seen from the
revenue generated and the ratio of complaints to traffic
for various services provided by the Department, given in
the Annexure. Even where the number of complaints have
increased, it is indicative of the greater accessibility
through customer care centers and the website and
responsiveness of the Department to customer needs.
(b) Yes, Sir. Market surveys are conducted from time to
time to get information about the market, user perception,
industry over view etc. Direct feedback from the customers
is also obtained through questionnaires, telephone calls,
visits and customer meets.
(c) As can be seen from the revenue figures in the
Annexure, the Department has not suffered losses. On the
basis of results of market surveys, action to modify
existing products or introduce new products is taken from
time to time. In fact, it is to meet the competition from
couriers that premium products like Speed Post, Express
Parcel Post and Business Post have been progressively
introduced. A number of value additions like free pick up,
door-to-door delivery, Internet based track and trace,
volume based discount and credit facility have been provided
for Speed Post. As a result of these initiatives, premium
products have shown a sustained increase in revenue over the
years.
(d) Does not arise in view of (c) above.
(e) As pointed out above, the Government has taken various
steps to improve the quality of its services and increase
its competitiveness. It has been making all out efforts to
control expenditure and enhance revenue. It is mobilizing
additional resources through better marketing of all its
products. It is taking pro-active steps to reach out to its
customers and is concentrating on improvement of its quality
of services and better customer care.
(f) Yes, salary, perks etc including pension are paid from
the Consolidated Fund of India and from the Budget of the
Department of Posts. In other Civil Ministries Pension is
paid from a common head of accounts ie.2071, whereas in
Department of Posts pension is paid from the Budget of
Department of Posts.
(g) The details are as below:-
(Rs.in Crore)
YEAR SALARY AND WAGES PENSION
2003-04 3938.47 1107.02
Annexure
DETAILS OF REVENUE GENERATED DURING THE LAST FIVE YEARS BY DEPARTMENT OF POSTS
Rs. in 2003- 2002- 2001- 2000- 1999-
Crores 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000
Revenue 4256.93 4009.65 3697.11 3297.81 2020.12
PERCENTAGE OF COMPLAINTS INTERMS OF TOTAL TRAFFIC DURING THE LAST FIVE YEARS
Service Complaint Complaint Complaint Complaint Complaint
Traffic Traffic Traffic Traffic Traffic Ratio Ratio Ratio Ratio Ratio for for for for for 2003-04 2003-03 2001-02 2000-01 1999-2000
Speed Post 0.064% 0.059% 0.063% 0.072% 0.078%
Registered 0.123% 0.080% 0.111% 0.106% 0.108%
Letters
Registered 0.050% 0.043% 0.034% 0.040% 0.045%
Parcels
VPP 0.353% 0.463% 0.350% 0.320% 0.394%
MOs 0.359% 0.584% 0.451% 0.389% 0.371%
SB&CC 0.008% 0.011% 0.012% 0.013% 0.015%
