The post office in New Town’s Action Area III started functioning from Monday.

Situated near the upcoming second campus of St. Xavier’s College in the ground floor of the state government’s Vocational Training Institute, the new post office had several curious residents venturing in on the first day of operation. 

“I collect picture postcards and I always make my friends who stay abroad send me packets of them. Ever since I moved here I have hardly received any although they claim to have sent me several such packs. I hope that now they will be able to deliver mail properly,” said Nandita Ganguly, who stays in Uni World City.

Prior to the opening of this new post office, New Town was serviced by a single one behind the old New Town police station.

The new post office has been divided into four sections based on geographical area and will have four mailmen on the job.

“The sorting list has been divided into four sections. Broadly speaking, our area extends from the canal near the New Town police station till the land demarcated for a new campus of IIT Kharagpur in Rajarhat on one side. On the other side, it stretches from Aliah University till Ecospace,” said Kirity Gupta, senior superintendent of post offices, east Calcutta division.

The four postmen sourced from extra-departmental staff admit that the task ahead will be Herculean as they hardly know the lay of the land here.

“It’s going to be a tough job for us. We only have bicycles and would need to cover this huge unfamiliar area. Also all the highrises look similar to us and finding out a flat in the midst of an apartment complex is a task in itself,” said a postman not wishing to be named. 

The post office here will have all postal facilities like speed post, registered post, postal life insurance and small savings scheme, said Gupta.

The fact that not many banks have opened in the area made many make a beeline to start a small savings scheme on the first day itself. “There is no bank near my house,” said Amreen Biwi of Pathurighata village, one such customer.

Keeping in mind that a lot of people residing in New Town have kin outside the postal department network, officials want to turn this into a branch offering core banking solutions. “In the days to come, a person will be able to remit money to his family back home from here. To do that, both parties will require a small savings account in a post office,” said Gupta.

The post office will operate from 10am to 6pm everyday, barring public holidays.