? Senior citizen Anup Singh had travelled 5km from his Baridih home to the Golmuri sub-post office twice last week to know his savings account balance. He stood for an hour in the queue every time and returned dejected

? Soumen Biswas (65), a retired employee of Incab Industries who has invested in a monthly income scheme, too came back empty-handed from the same sub-post office on Tuesday because he could not withdraw his money even after a long wait

The ordeals Singh and Biswas have suffered are not uncommon. Poor implementation of core banking solutions is inconveniencing many who have savings and MIS accounts at the Golmuri sub-post office in Jamshedpur.

According to account holders, they are required to put up with inordinate delays even for the most basic of services. "Hardly a day goes by without link failure and similar glitches. The queues keep getting longer and mostly comprises senior citizens like me. If the situation continues, India Post will soon lose its people-friendly image," said Singh (62).

Ashutosh Shankar Mishra (55) said his MIS account was his key source of income at this age. "The MIS matured in the first week of June. But, in all these days, I have not been able to renew it. Every time I visit the sub-post office, I am told that the server is down and that it would take some more time to get my scheme renewed. Owing to the delay, I am losing out on the interest," Mishra added.

Senior superintendent of post offices (Singhbhum division) S.P. Singh blamed the BSNL for the glitches. "We have taken our broadband connection from BSNL. Link failure is a regular affair. We are serious about resolving the issue and have taken up the matter with BSNL. We are hopeful of overcoming the problem soon," the senior official said.

People who visit the sub-post office also complained of manpower crunch.

"For every little job, we are required to wait in queue for hours at a stretch. The authorities always blame it on manpower shortage," said a customer who wanted to transfer money from Golmuri sub-post office to head post office in Bistupur through core banking on Tuesday, but could not.