Indian Postal Act will be suitably amended, says Union Minister

The Union government has proposed amendments to the Indian Postal Act to introduce regulations on the courier industry, according to Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology A. Raja

The Indian Postal Act would be suitably amended to frame provisions to regulate the private courier services. This would also bring the sector under the Consumer Protection Act.

A Bill for this would be introduced in Parliament after getting the Cabinet approval, he said.

After inaugurating the Mettupalayam Project Arrow Office at Mettupalayam Head Post Office on Monday, he told presspersons that the Department of Posts was incurring about Rs. 600 crore loss annually.

The excess land with the post offices could be used for development of commercial buildings and these could be rented out for revenue.

A committee of secretaries formed to study the proposal had given its recommendations. A special purpose vehicle would be formed to implement the proposal.

Speaking at the inaugural, he said that post offices across the country would be modernised (Project Arrow) in phases at an outlay of Rs. 500 crore during the XI Five Year Plan period.

Initially, about 50 post offices were taken up on a pilot basis.

In Tamil Nadu, nine post offices were taken up under the project in Phase-I.

In Phase-II, 67 post offices were taken up and in the next phase, it was proposed to cover Annur, Sathyamangalam and Avinashi post offices too.