India Post in political biz | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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India Post in political biz

PTI | ByRajiv Srivastava, Kanpur
Jan 07, 2006 01:50 AM IST

FOR THE first time in the country, employees of the India Post will officially ?participate? for (besides organisations and individuals) political parties during their election campaign or other purposes ? of course for a price..

FOR THE first time in the country, employees of the India Post will officially ‘participate’ for (besides organisations and individuals) political parties during their election campaign or other purposes — of course for a price..

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HT Image

Approved directly by Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran, the newly introduced scheme Direct Post  not only aims at helping the political parties reach out to their prospective vote bank but also businesses in attracting customers all over the country.

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Under the scheme, only un-addressed postal articles like letters, cards, brochures, questionnaires, pamphlets, samples, promotional items like CDs, floppies, cassettes, coupons, posters, mailers or any other form of printed communication that is not prohibited by the Indian Post Office Act 1898 or Indian Post Office Rules 1933, could be given to the Postal department for distribution.

To avail the Direct Post scheme, the organisation or the individual would have to give at least 1000 articles. For the local distribution of articles, the India Post would charge Rs 1.50 per article for the first 20 grams while Rs 2 per article for distribution anywhere in the country. However, for every additional 20 grams or part thereof both local and inter-city articles would be charged Re 1 extra.

The India Post would not accept articles which exceed the length and width of an A3 size paper. Articles posted as ‘Direct Post’ should not bear any address or name and the same would be accepted only at the designated offices and not in a letter box.

Talking to Hindustan Times, senior superintendent of post offices KK Yadav said their aim was to generate more and more revenue. He said an independent study undertaken by the postal department had revealed that the un-addressed mail sector was bound to increase in the years to come. According to a rough estimated, some 52.80 crore pieces may be required to be distributed as un-addressed mail by the year 2009.

Yadav said the article would certainly have more credibility if the same was being distributed at home by the postman, unlike it being distributed by a hired person on the roadside. Besides, the department would also inform the sender that the articles handed over by him had been delivered according to his instructions. He said the sender of the Direct Post could also specify the numbers and areas, in which he wished the articles to be distributed. He, however, made it clear that no commitment would be given for delivery of the article to any particular address or a person.

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