Members of Cuttack Banchao Committee protest against the decision of closure of the Old Secretariat Sub Post Office. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Jan. 4: Protests have greeted the Orissa Postal Circle chief post master general’s decision to close down the post office in the Old Secretariat area in Cuttack.

The Cuttack Banchao Committee (CBC) today criticised the move to shut down the post office and staged a three-hour dharna in front of it demanding a rollback in the decision.

The chief PMG’s office in Bhubaneswar had issued orders to “abolish” the Old Secretariat sub-post office and “relocate” it to Adaspur after categorising it as a “non-delivery sub-post office”.

The order had said that the post office was to be relocated as “Adaspur delivery sub post office under relocation scheme as part of rationalisation of rural postal network”.

Members of the Cuttack Banchao Committee strongly opposed closing the over 50-year-old post office.

“There is no rationale for closing down the post office by calling it a non-delivery post office, as several government offices and institutions in the Old Secretariat area continue to use it,” said Subash Singh, convener of the CBC.

The Old Secretariat non-delivery sub post office has a post master and a packer. Official sources said it receives nearly a hundred letters on an average working day.

A postal department official said the Old Secretariat sub post office is located less than half a kilometre from the GPO at Buxi Bazaar.

“Latest norms prohibit operating post offices that lie less than two kilometres away from each other in an urban area. If the rule is followed to the T, a number of post offices across the city could be closed,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

At present, there are nearly 50 sub-post offices across the city. Quite a few are non-delivery post offices, while most of them are either not viable as per income to cost evaluation or are miserably low on the scale of work hour-staff evaluation, the official said.

“But this is an important issue for Cuttack. We have conveyed our stand to the chief PMG through the superintendent today. We expect a rollback in the decision,” said Chittaranjan Mohanty, a member of the CBC.

Among the offices in the Old Secretariat area that still use its services are the office of the chief district medical officer, additional labour commissioner and labour tribunal, unit offices of transport department, vigilance department, forest department , roads and buildings, wakf board and several others.