Poor services irk Sarupathar sub-post office users

SARUPATHAR:  The residents of Sarupathar and surrounding areas had thought that they would get good service after the Sarupathar Sub-Post Office was computerized. But they got only disappointment.

According to people, the attitude of the post office staff is extremely callous and services are very poor. Opening a new account should take only 10 to 15 minutes but people are allegedly made to wait for a month. "Lack of adequate staff also causes a lot of inconvenience," said a resident.

Even basic services related to passbooks are not provided properly. People have complained that after opening a new account, they were provided the passbook after two months. Passbooks are updated at a snail's pace.

Not just the people, post office agents are also suffering a lot. "In 2018-19, our income tax was deducted at source. Since our income was below the taxable limit, we were supposed to get a refund. However, as the postal staff did not inform the government treasury about it, we are yet to get back the money," the agents said.

The Sarupathar Post Office is always short of stationeries and agents are asked to spend their own money to buy stationery items. "If an agent has to open 50 accounts, the staff gives him/her only one form and asks the agent to photocopy it. As we are providing business to the postal department, it is the department's job to at least provide us the required number of forms," the agents added.

Senior citizens too are put to trouble. "The Central Government has directed the postal department to provide ATM cards to all the pensioners. Here, not even 25 per cent of the pensioners have been provided the same," said a pensioner.

The software link of the postal department breaks down often, bringing all work to a halt. "Overall, the postal services are very unsystematic and slow," people said.

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