Ranchi, Aug. 22: Say goodbye to long queues and harrowing hours at post offices, e-services are here.

The state postal department is all set to offer e-postal services that would enable local residents to send instant money orders and speedposts, besides helping them to access detailed information about other services on offer on the web. The postal department has decided to install touchscreen kiosks especially for this purpose.

Cyber cafes are also being set up to help customers. Initially, four post offices in the state will have these Internet joints. These are Doranda head post office, Jamshedpur head post office, Hazaribagh head post office and Madhupur sub-post office. Later, cyber cafes will be opened in 35 other post offices. Browsers will be charged a nominal amount every time they avail of the cyber cafe services. A sources said the minimum rate will be Rs 10 for an hour.

Anil Kumar, the director of postal department, Jharkhand circle, said, “e-services will be provided in several post offices with the help of leased line networking. In the initial phase, the proposal is to provide a computer in each post office. As the workload increases, we will install four computers, including those in the cyber cafés.”

Kumar reiterated that surfing will not be free and a nominal amount will be charged. “We have decided to open the first cyber cafe in Doranda. There will be an infrastructure revamp so that there is adequate space for the touchscreen kiosks and the cafe,” he said.

In the first phase, the network will connect 4,000 post offices. “The work will be completed by the end of October,” the director of the department said. Later, others would be made part of the network.

Networking has already begun in 11 post offices of the state. “The first office to get this core banking solution will be Doranda head post office,” Kumar said. It will not just cover banking or insurance services, but also provide instant money transfer, speedpost and information-on-delivery services.

Local residents said that they were looking forward to the new services and hoped that going to post office won’t be a harrowing experience any longer.