12,000 post offices to be computerized
By Muhammad Ali Malik

ISLAMABAD—All the General Post Offices (GPOs) in the country have been computerized while PC-1 for automation of 12,000 post offices has been sent to the government for approval,a source in Pakistan Post told here on Sunday.
Automation of the institution under a new initiative would provide latest and modern postal services to the customers,he added. The instant cash transfer facility will also be introduced in these offices,he said adding that during past two years several new initiatives have been taken to modernize and upgrade the postal services throughout the country and bring them at par with the international standards.
Under the modernization plan all post offices would beinter-connected and inter-linked and people even in remote areas would be able to transfer cash to anyone anywhere in the country where a post office is functioning.
He said that plan is on cards to install Auto Teller Machines (ATMs) in some post offices. A new courier service will be opened for which a comprehensive plan has been prepared to ake it compatible with private courier services. This step will greatly benefit peopleespecially those living in remote areas.
Moreover, citizen information/tele centres would be opened in all post offices of the country under the e-governance plan which will enable people to access post offices from where they will have the facility to get any kind of information about public and private institutions or download application forms required for some specified purpose. He said that Postal staff will collect utility bills from people’s residences which will spare consumers from the trouble of standing in queues. Initially, the plan will be launched in Karachi and later extended to other cities.
Under micro-financing scheme, post offices will start disbursing small loans.The scheme will soon be launched in rural Sindh and southern Punjab. The present micro-finance system of banksis cumbersome and lenders have to go through many formalities,he added. Unlike this, the post office loaning system will not have unnecessary formalities,said the MD Pakistan Post.
For human resource development special training programmes have been planned through which the post office employees would be imparted proper training in the field to make them more efficient in service delivery. Postal department,he said, has also started incentive-basedpolicies through which workers who show excellent performance are provided benefits.
He said that a pilot project to open mobile post offices inthe country has been launched.Mobile post offices will provide postal and other allied services in emergency situation in areas where normal services get disrupted due to any reason,as it happened in the 2005 devastating earthquake. These post offices will be mounted on vehicles which will be immediately moved to such areas.