Mumbai gets second all-women post office today

City will get its second ‘mahila dakghar’ – post offices operated by women staffers – on Saturday at Mahim Bazaar. All the official positions at the post office,

City will get its second ‘mahila dakghar’ – post offices operated by women staffers – on Saturday at Mahim Bazaar. All the official positions at the post office, from post master in-charge to counter persons, will be managed by women.

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“Around 70% of the visitors at this post office are women. The move will make our women customers feel safer and comfortable about using the services. Also, to create a conducive work environment, we are providing facilities such as sanitary napkin dispensers,” said Swati Pandey, post master general, Mumbai region.

The male staff members of the Mahim Bazaar post office have been transferred to other branches. “This branch is a lower-selection grade office, which is managed by lesser number of employees, as compared to other post offices in the city. So it is easier to transfer the male staff members to other branches from this office,” Pandey said.

Until now, the city only had one all-women post office, which is located at Town Hall in Fort and managed by five employees. Currently, the male-female ratio in post offices across the Mumbai region is 60:40. In the coming months, India Post aims to open five more all-women post offices in the city at Andheri, Borivli and Wadala to induct more women employees. “We can’t have a head office operated only by women, so we are converting smaller stations into mahila dakghars,” said Pandey.

The first all women post office was set up in country at New Delhi in March, 2013.