Post offices join info revolution

[sidmis]

Post offices join info revolution

as reported by ARTI SAHULIYAR in The Telegraph

• Three months after e-initiative, department receives hundreds of queries

Ranchi, Sept. 5: Filing applications under the Right to Information Act is now easier than ever before. And the department of posts, Jharkhand, has made that happen with its online system that has been running successfully for the last three months.

The system is already in practice in 40 post offices of the state. As a result, the department is getting RTI applications in hundreds.
Applicants have to log on to either indiapost.gov.in or indiapost.org and click on RTI complaints to get application forms. After that they can hand over the filled in form to the post offices along with the requisite fee.

“The postal department is now empowered to register cases under the RTI act. Information on application status is also available,” said director of the postal department, Jharkhand circle, Anil Kumar.

He said the postal department was also the nodal agency for more than 50 central government departments. “For RTI applications concerning Union government departments, the postal department forwards them to the concerned department,” Kumar added.

He said the fee of Rs 10 can be deposited either by a postal order or by cash. The receipt is then attached to the application form. “We are able to track the application. For instance, whether the government has received it, whether it has gone in appeal or if the information sought has come from the right department… all these can be tracked through our website,” Kumar added.

The postal department has also introduced another website for settling customer grievances: indiapost.org.in.

Kumar sounded excited about the department’s future plans. In the second phase of the upgradation, the department will be uploading information on its own on a wide area network through leased lines of National Informatics Centre (NIC).

“We will no longer depend on the networking of BSNL but we will have our own Internet for data communication and voice mail. A total of 11 post offices will be covered by the end of this month at an all-India level and 28 post offices at the end of this year,” he said.

The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Jharkhand | Post offices join info revolution