Continuous blockade of mail delivery services by air, railways

The federal government's continued blockade of mail delivery services by air and railways as a preventive measure against coronavirus has created confusion due to lack of a clear policy while the Pakistan Post and private courier services are presently delivering some items, allowed by the government, through aerial and railway mail delivery services.

Presently, the Pakistan Post as well as private courier services are delivering only some documents falling under a specific category as well as medical supplies, official sources told Business Recorder.

Among the items that are allowed to be delivered to long-distance destinations by air and railways include those official documents that are booked by the government departments and addressed to the government departments, the documents booked by media organisations for their offices in different cities, and medical equipment including hand sanitizers, hand gloves, face masks, surgical supplies and related consignments, a source at Pakistan Post told Business Recorder.

"But there is lack of clarity regarding air and railways mails. More than 13,000 offices of Pakistan Post across the country are accepting long-distance (air and railways mail) from the customers but this mail remains pending and is dumped at the General Post Offices (GPOs) concerned. This is causing confusion and panic among customers. On one hand, we have not been directed to simply refuse taking long-distance mail from customers and on the other hand, this mail is not delivered to the relevant destinations. This is nothing else but bureaucratic apathy," the source said.

Unless the Pakistan Post receives a notification from the federal government containing clear instructions on the removal of blockade on air and railways mails, the related postal services would remain closed and only limited articles of mail falling in specified categories would be delivered, Business Recorder has learnt.

Federal Minister for Postal Services Murad Saeed has actively made efforts to revamp the Pakistan Post and upgrade its services on modernised lines to bring them at par with those of private courier services. "But bureaucratic apathy is a big hurdle in completing overhauling the affairs of Pakistan Post," the official said.

Another official said the Pakistan Post charges half to one-third of the rates charged by the private courier companies for the delivery of inter-city and intra-city mails.

"If you send articles like documents via Pakistan Post to the districts like Haripur, Abbottabad and Mansehra that are 1.5 to two hours drive from Islamabad, you would be charged only Rs 50 if the weight of your consignment is less than 20 grams. If it exceeds 20 grams, then Rs 100 is charged. This can be compared to at least Rs 280 to over Rs 300 private courier companies are charging for the delivery of mail of the same weight-range to the same cities," he said

Business Recorder tried to contact Murad Saeed and also sent a text message at his private cell number for his comments on the blockade of aerial and railways mails but he did not respond till the filing of this report.