Oct 12, 2019 09:41 AM
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India Post(IP), functioning under the Ministry of Communications, has its origins in British times; as a postal service. it is almost 2 ½ centuries old. You might have thought that, being such a history-steeped veteran in the field, IP would have, by now, gained enough work experience to execute a simple task such as that subsumed under the label, “Regd A/D”.
But… you would be surprised at the ease with which IP can bungle such a non-demanding task and, in the bargain, short-change the customer.
On 04 June 2019, I had posted two Regd. A/D letters at the Borivali(W) head post office, having duly filled up and submitted the acknowledgement cards as required. I paid an extra amount for the postal service involved in getting these POD cards signatured by the addressee and returned to me by the post office. This is precisely what is connoted by the term, “Registered Mail Acknowledgement Due”, and why the charge for a “Regd A/D” is higher than the charge for a “Regd” mail(which is registered as having been delivered, but on which you will not receive a POD). When a person sends a communication by Regd. A/D, it is for a very specific, important reason, and may also have legal import. It is conclusive proof of two things - that an article has been mailed by the sender, and that the article has been received by the addressee. So, when you do not receive the acknowledgement card on a Regd A/D letter, then the very purpose of sending mail by Regd A/D has been defeated. Furthermore, by taking a fee towards delivery of the acknowledgement cards, but not returning these cards to the sender as PODs, the Post Office is guilty of outright cheating of the customer.
But this is precisely what the post office did in the case of my two above-mentioned letters. I awaited the return of the acknowledgement cards for 17 days – till 21 June 2019, to be exact. They never arrived. So, I put in two online complaints.
I received a response from the Postmaster(Borivali Head Post Office), informing me that the letters had been delivered, and enclosing a scanned portion of the Delivery Runsheet. But – because of the careless way that the stapled Runsheet had been folded back in scanning – the full and proper signature of the addressee was not visible. As a piece of documentation, its value was compromised and questionable. I wrote to the Postmaster, informing him of the above, and asking him about the fate of the acknowledgement cards that I had filled in, which(when signatured by the addressee) had more value as legal documentation than a badly-scanned signature on a Runheet. Had an internal enquiry been initiated to find out why I had not received these acknowledgement cards? I reminded the Postmaster that returning the PODs to me was not optional, it was mandatory in the context of what I had paid for. And, finally, I asked him whether I would need to go through this rigmarole all over again the next time I sent a Regd A/D letter and, at the end of it all, just be provided with a scan of questionable value, instead of the acknowledgement cards that I was entitled to receive. Even the unacceptable scan had been sent to me only after I had put in 2 complaints.
I never received a response from the Postmaster.
India Post boasts(“on paper”, that is) an elaborate Citizens Charter, and a huge section on its website, providing detailed guidelines for the escalation of complaints – going all the way from the local post office up to the Postal Directorate in New Delhi. I wrote to all of them, receiving no acknowledgement of my mail, even. The functionaries in the escalation hierarchy included:
The Senior Superintendent of Post Offices, Mumbai North West
The Postmaster General(MR), Mumbai.
The Chief Postmaster General, Maharashtra
And, finally, the designated officer in the Postal Directorate, Dak Bhavan, New Delhi 110001.
(In the case of The Postmaster General(MR), Mumbai, I sent the email on 3 consecutive days, each time receiving a failure message stating that the recipient’s mailbox was full).
India Post is described online as having “the most widely-distributed portal network in the world”. But what does that hi-tech halo signify if a senior IP functionary’s mailbox is not even adequately cleared to receive new mail?!
And what is the point having a hierarchy of escalation of grievances on paper if there is entrenched, tone-deaf non-responsiveness to a communication from an aggrieved customer? I take this deafening silence on the part of every IP functionary approached as implicit admission of wrongdoing on the part of India Post. All those senior functionaries, occupying their comfortable gaddis – do they ever pause to remember that their very salaries and perks are paid for by the vast public they supposedly “serve”? Indifference in the face of a complaint escalated all the way to the highest level of redressal makes a mockery of all the pious and self-congratulatory declarations scattered over the India Post website.
I therefore have a question - an existential question - for India Post. Does India Post exist to “serve” the Indian public, or to make a mockery of the word, “service”, by pocketing the charge for the service, and then flatly declining to provide it?
