An initial allocation of Rs 100 million has been made to the Pakistan Postal Service (PPS) in the current financial year. Talking to APP about the overall performance of Pakistan Post, Minister for Postal Service Israr Ullah Zehri said Pakistan Post has prepared an express programme for the first time in the country and the institution has been considered for allocation under Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).
"A plan to set up more than 700 new Post Offices at the union council level across the country has been submitted to the Establishment Division" he said. "During 2008-09, about 1000 vacant posts were filled by direct recruitment after observing all prescribed formalities" he added.
The minister said 3 new Postal Circles were established in Hyderabad, Multan and Rawalpindi to strengthen the administrative set up. "Keeping in view the requirement of Balochistan Province, 49 Post Offices have been established by transferring 120 posts from other circles" he said.
Zehri further said 60 new vehicles have been purchased to update the Post Office transport fleet, which is used for transportation of mail and cash shipment. He said the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) was launched in December 2008 to provide cash assistance to the low-income groups affected during the last three years due to high inflation. "It aims at disbursing the amount through money orders to deserving women in all the provinces, Fata, Azad Kashmir, Northern Areas and Islamabad" he added.
He said the task entrusted to Pakistan Post by the government was being accomplished well. "Out of 7,479,522 money orders for Rs 25.7 billion, money orders for Rs 24.3 billion have been successfully delivered to the beneficiaries at their doorsteps," he informed.
He assured that the Pakistan Post, being a service provider was trying to improve the quality of its service. Notable achievements were to establish countrywide Express Post Service, Time Sensitive Mail, computerisation and automation of postal locations to provide track and trace facility to masses, cash assistance to low-income groups through money orders in BISP and Punjab Food Support Scheme, he elaborated.
"Better arrangement and service to the customers regarding inbound Western Union remittances and disbursement of micro finance loans, better facilities for 1.3 million pensioners, promotion of Savings Schemes, facility of depositing utility bills are other services being provided by the post offices," he added.
The ministry has set up 25 Smart and Small Centres throughout the country for efficient service to masses. The centres are fully operational, he said, adding that another 100 such centres are being planned.
"Web-enabled tracking an monitoring system has been developed and implemented for the scheme and an amount of Rs 9.8 billion disbursed among the families below the poverty line" he maintained. He said that Pakistan Post Express Mail and Financial Services have been introduced to provide trust worthy, efficient and time-related facility to the customers.
Zehri informed that in order to extend the micro-finance facility at the grassroots, a scheme was launched in partnership with the First Micro Finance Bank, adding that the loan size was up to the limit of Rs 15000 per village council. As many as 52,010 loans amounting to Rs 708.188 million have been disbursed to village councils, he added. Concluding, he said under a progressive policy, Pakistan Post has been transformed into a modern and fully computerised organisation to compete with the private couriers.