A dilapidated van being used by the postal department. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, April 4: Unfit conditions of vans used by the Posts and Telegraph department has added to the woes of the postal employees.

A few weeks ago, a mini-van loaded with letters and other logistics, hit a private car near the Bistupur crossing. Although there were no casualties, the senior superintendent of post office (Singhbhum) deducted Rs 17,000 from the driver’s salary to repair the vehicle.

Another driver said his chief forced him to ply unfit vehicles without replacing old tyres: “It is difficult and illegal to drive such vehicles in the crowded city under the Motor Vehicle Act. We have no choice but to drive vehicles with defective brakes and old tyres.”

A few days ago, the Jamshedpur divisional office pulled out three of their six mini-vans due to the poor condition of vehicles.

At present, the three vehicles are collecting letters, parcels and other logistics from 45 post offices in East Singhbhum and a single min-van is deputed to collect cash from the various post offices.

Informing the senior superintendent of post office (Singhbhum), B.K. Nag about the bad condition of vehicles has not yielded any results, said drivers.

They have also complained to the Akhil Bharatiya Dak Karamchari Sangh Union about deducting money from their monthly salary.

“I have received series of complaints from drivers about being forced to drive unfit vehicles. If there is an accident, drivers are the victims,” the divisional secretary, Sanjay Kumar said, adding that his union would discuss the problems with the chief postmaster-general.

“The postal department has stopped investing money for maintenance and other services in order to reduce expenses at the cost of drivers. We will protest it,” he said.

Director of postal services (Jharkhand), Anil Kumar was not available for the comment.