The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Dhaka

The government has undertaken a five-year plan to set up 'post e-centre' 8,000 rural post offices and 500 upazilas of the country for bringing the postal department under the digital network.

AKM Rafiqul Alam, acting Director General (Postal Services) of Bangladesh Post Office, told BSS reporter Kamaluddin Ahmed that a project styled 'Post-e-Centre for Rural Community' involving Taka 522 crore would be implemented from the next year.

The main purpose of the project is to reach the IT-based postal services to the doorsteps of the rural people, he said.

Rafiqul Alam said the rural people would get numerous services, including internet browsing, remittance transfer, conversation with neighbours through webcam, publication of all academic results, filling up application forms for admission to colleges and universities, and gathering information about agriculture, education and health, through the project.

Besides infusing dynamism into the country's postal services, the acting DG said the process is underway to sign agreements with 40 private commercial banks and insurance companies for providing the people with banking services, including passport processing, remittance collection, introduction of postal cash cards and insurance premium collection through the IT.

"The Postal Department also inked a deal with the Western Union, an international fast track money transferring organisation, for transferring funds from any part of the world to the country within 10 minutes," he said.

Rafiqul Alam said their department has taken an innovative plan to provide each postman with SIM cards of mobile phones so that they can communicate with subscribers from anywhere and rush there.

Customers will now be able to recharge their accounts from postmen. Revenue earns from it will be shared by postmen, government and mobile phone companies, he said.

Currently, he said the Postal Department is handling around six lakh letters, including two lakh of Bangladesh Open University (BOU), every month.

The department earned Taka 175 crore during the first four months of this fiscal, which is Taka 22 crore more than that of the previous fiscal, sources said.

As part of the digitisation, the sources said the Postal Department is also implementing a three-year project spending Taka 32 crore. The project designed for automation of postal activities will be implemented in Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi and Khulna divisions.

Sixty-seven post offices and 13 railway mail services will be brought under the automation. It would have powerful software with an option of the online tracking system where anyone can track down letters through a simple log on, said an IT expert of the department.