Postal officials display new rakhi envelopes in Ranchi. Telegraph picture

Ranchi, July 31: Waterproof rakhi envelopes have replaced the conventional ones. Reason: they reach destinations faster and remain damage-free.

Jharkhand postal department is receiving a huge response for its new venture — waterproof rakhi envelope.

Earlier, ordinary envelopes were in demand but due to frequent complaints of damage of the envelopes, its craze has gone down, said a buyer. The conventional envelope costs Rs 2 while the new one comes for Rs 5.

“When I visited Ranchi general post office to purchase an ordinary envelope, a staff at the counter apprised me about the new envelope,” said customer Rani Singh.

“Last year when I sent the rakhi in an ordinary envelope, my brother complained that he had received a wet packet and even the rakhi inside got damaged,” she rued.

Superintendent of Railways Mail Service (RMS) A.N. Pathak said: “The ordinary envelope used to get damaged while sorting or stamping. If the rakhi was of a big size and made of metal, we used get complaints that the entire envelope has got damaged before reaching its destination.”

Kumar said that the positive response over the years has prompted them to introduce rakhis of better quality.

“So this year, we have introduced special envelopes in association with an American company, DuPont, that deals in printing and packaging,” Kumar pointed out.

The local circle of postal department has introduced seven types of imported envelopes in varied designs and colour.

Kumar said that they have ordered two lakh rakhi envelopes this year.

Besides, the new method of pasting the envelopes is also innovative as it requires you to peel off the strap without any fear of the material inside getting damaged, said another customer, Roshni Mehta.

Kumar said that they used to receive lot of complaints from the customers regarding the delay in delivery of rakhi as postal officials had to spend extra time in sorting out the envelopes.

“After collecting rakhi from the common post boxes, it used to go for sorting at GPO and RMS. The process used to take almost two days,” the director pointed out.

“But the new system would shorten the transportation time,” Kumar assured.