Patna: Union minister for communications and information technology
Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday linked Patna General Post Office (GPO)
and 30 other Head Post Offices (HPO), including Bankipore Head Post
Office here, in the state with core banking solution (CBS) at a function
held on the premises of Patna GPO. Hereafter, ATM cardholders of the
postal savings bank accounts at the GPO and any of the HPOs would be
able to withdraw money from ATMs at all the other HPOs.
Prasad said in the next six months, 8,000 post offices in the state
would have core banking facility as facilitated by hand-held device. The
state has 9,000 post offices. The minister said the country has 1.44
lakh post offices, 98 crore mobile phones and 30 crore people linked to
Internet and, therefore, the digital era has provided an opportunity to
revolutionize postal services in the country. "The era of e-commerce has
also opened new opportunities for improving the functioning of postal
services," he said, and added several big companies involved in
e-commerce have shown interest in using the vast postal network in the
country, and the linking of department of posts with the e-commerce
providers has already yielded Rs 500 crore. "I will protect your
interests, but my appeal to you all is that you must change with the
times. I also assure you that none of you will lose your job," Prasad
told the postmen. Despite about 15 minutes of rain during the inaugural
function, the guests, the officials and the audience stayed put. The
special guests included state energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav,
former deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, leader of opposition in the state
assembly Nand Kishore Yadav, and legislators Arun Kumar Sinha, Nitin
Navin, Poonam Yadav, Anil Kumar, Usha Vidyarthi and Sanjay Mayukh.
In his address, Bijendra Prasad Yadav spelt out the significance of
the changes being made in the postal services in the country. It was
Sher Shah Suri who started postal service in the country. For the new
changes being brought by you, people would remember you in the same way
as they do Sher Shah Suri, he said, praising Prasad. Bihar chief post
master general Abhay Shekhar Prasad said 1,048 of the 1,051 major post
offices in the state had already been fully computerized, and buildings
of only two of the 9,000 post offices in the state were damaged in the
recent earthquake.
courtsey:-sapost.blogspot.in
