Mumbai: In the pre-lockdown days, spotting the khaki-clad postman diligently going about his rounds failed to evoke as much excitement as in the days of yore, when he brought 'goodies' like letters, parcels or money orders from a loved one or a distant family member or a pen pal.
Those were the times when letters were the only means of long-form, long-distance communication.
Then the arrival of the internet changed it all. Yet, quietly and unobtrusively, amid the coronavirus pandemic, India's post office has once again slipped into an important role, becoming the deliverer of essential goods. Postmaster General Mumbai, Swati Pandey told The Free Press Journal,
"Since the lockdown was imposed, we have managed to deliver over 10 tonnes of essential commodities that mainly include lifesaving medicines, drugs, personal protective equipment (PPE), medical kits, masks etc across India via our own vehicular routes, from Mumbai alone.
Besides, this we are also using other delivery routes like parcel trains, airways, and courier services like Blue Dart." She explained, "We have a lot of laal gaadis that were standing idle, since we were not working within the city.
So we set up our own vehicular routes with all postal offices and now, we operate on 65 vehicular routes across India, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, supplying essentials in these trying times."
Pandey tells the story of a youth who wanted to send cancer and blood pressure medicines to his parents who live in a remote village of Konkan, and how the post office came to his aid on learning his story
from Free Press Journal https://ift.tt/2SVFzGR
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