Question : Complaints regarding Postal Services

(a) whether the Government is aware that postmen are not delivering posts on time particularly in the rural areas of the country due to which people are less interested in availing the services of Indian postal department and if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto;

(b) whether the Government proposes to launch a National Helpline Number for redressal of grievances regarding postal services and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;

(c) the number of complaints received by the Government regarding postal services during each of the last three years and the current year along with the number of complaints resolved by the Government during this period; and

(d) the steps being taken by the Government to strengthen the delivery system of postal department, so that the interest of the people in availing the services of the department could be increased?

MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS, LAW & JUSTICE AND
ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

(a) Yes Sir, instances of postmen not delivering mail articles on time have come to the notice of the Department, out of which, some are in the rural areas of the country. No co-relation has been established between the non-delivery of mail articles and people’s interest in availing the services of Indian Postal Department. The fact that the combined mail traffic of the Department has grown from 609 crore mail articles in 2013-14 to 635 crores in 2017-18 cutting across urban and rural profile, is a testimony that the customers continue to avail mail services offered by the Department.

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The Department has diligently taken action against the postmen where such service fault is noticed. The details of complaints received and action taken against postmen at fault in the last three years and the current year is shown below: -
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Year Complaints received against postmen No. of cases where action is taken against the postmen at fault
2016-17 12176 721
2017-18 11383 910
2018-19 12467 1028
2019-20 (up to October 2019) 6736 561

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(b) The Government has already launched a National Helpline Number for redressal of grievances regarding postal services on 01.06.2018. The toll-free helpline number is 1800 266 6868. Both inquiries and grievances related to postal services are entertained on this number. There are Call Centres working from Varanasi and Patna.

(c) The details of complaints received by the Department regarding postal services during each of the last three years and the current year along with the number of complaints resolved by the Department are as below: -
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2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 (till 31.10.19)
Received Resolved as on date i.e. 21.11.19 Received Resolved as on date i.e. 21.11.19 Received Resolved as on date i.e. 21.11.19 Received Resolved as on date i.e. 21.11.19
23,43,355 23,43,355 24,48,208 24,48,208 24,77,671

24,77,671
12,90,774 12,24,156
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(d) The following steps are taken by the Government to strengthen the delivery system of postal department: -

(i). A dashboard has been introduced to measure the Key Performance Indicator of National Sorting Hubs and Post Offices for delivery.
(ii). Department has started operationalisation of Nodal Delivery Centres (NDCs) in phased manner for mechanized delivery of Parcels at identified locations across the country.
(iii). Online track and trace system for accountable articles has been strengthened. Complete end to end status of an article can be tracked on the website of the Department of Posts (www.indiapost.gov.in).
(iv). Tracking of articles through an Android based mobile App “Post info” has been put in place for customers.
(v). Department has developed android based Postman Mobile Application (PMA), for real time updation of delivery status of the article.
(vi). Quality Monitoring Cell is functioning in the Circles to monitor timely clearance of mails received at various Mail Offices.