The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Dhaka

Out of 16,879 posts in the Postal Department 2,787 posts are lying vacant for a long time having its ramifications on the services of this department.

The department has suffered losses of Taka 150 crore last year, authoritative sources said here on Monday.

Now, different steps are being taken to turn the service oriented department into a profitable one. And the Postal Department has now entered into modern service oriented services.

These includes delivery of passports, delivery of money to recipients through e-mail, distribution of remittances of Bangladeshis working abroad through Citi bank and Standard Chartered bank in the remote areas by the post offices. Already a number of services have been started.

DG of Postal Department (on current charge) Mobasherur Rahman told BSS the postal department is a service oriented organisation of the government. But, it performs most of its works manually. Receiving the mails, sorting, transportation and distribution-all are done manually by the class III and class IV employees.

Although postal department is an essential service it needs permission from the ministry to fill up its vacant posts of class III and class IV employees. Due to different reasons for a long time some 2287 sanctioned posts are lying vacant causing interruptions in services, the DG said.

Mobasherur Rahman observed that the postal department could regain its lost tradition by turning it into a profitable organization with the infusion of fresh capital, power to appoint personnel, promotions and prepare budgets.