Siliguri, Aug. 3: The postal department has decided to make this town a bigger hub for its activities in the region by upgrading its pincode status.

On Independence Day, 14 post offices in Siliguri and its suburbs will have new, restructured pincodes, beginning with 734 001 for the Siliguri head post office.

After Calcutta, Siliguri is the second city in West Bengal to get this restructuring, and the third in the country since the pincode system was introduced 33 years ago on the 25th anniversary of Independence, when all metros and state capitals were given the 001 numbering.

?This is a rare occasion,? said John Samuel, the post-master general (PMG) of north Bengal and Sikkim. ?When the system was started in 1972, Siliguri was given 734 401 as its pincode. But since then, the growth of Siliguri and its suburbs has been phenomenal. New colonies, new townships, projects and complexes have dotted the Siliguri surroundings.?

?Keeping pace with these changes, the postal department has decided to reorganise the mail delivery system by introducing new pincode numbers for the 14 post offices in and around Siliguri with effect from August 15. It will be a special gift to the people of Siliguri,? Samuel added. It took the postal boss two years to work on this upgrade and convince Delhi about the change.

?In the eyes of the postal department, you can say Siliguri has moved up from town to city status,? he said.

Mail will now reach small colonies in the Siliguri periphery much faster, with the routing becoming shorter and more postmen being deployed in these areas, the PMG explained.

?For example, an address in Sukna is now written as Sukna, Darjeeling-734 225. From August 15, the address will be Sukna, Siliguri-734 009. The mail, instead of being routed through Darjeeling will be routed through Siliguri.?

The new pincodes are: Siliguri HPO 734 001; Pradhannagar 734 003; Siliguri Town 734 004; Siliguri Bazar 734 005; Rabindra Sarani 734 006; Bhaktinagar 734 007; Salugara 734 008; Sukna 734 009; Matigara 734 010; Kadamtala 734 011; Sushrutnagar 734 012; North Bengal University 734 013; Bagdogra 734 014; and Mahananda Project (Fulbari) 734 015.

The department will be launching a campaign to convey the changes to the public. ?For some time, we will accept the old pincodes,? Samuel said.

Mayor Bikash Ghosh has congratulated the postal department for bringing about the improvement.