An age-old service on its last legs

by Mohammed Naalir

Minister Jeevan Kumaranatunga

The Postal Department has no intention to scrap the telegram service until an efficient service in place of the telegram is introduced. The Postal Department provides this service as usual, said Postal Services Minister Jeevan Kumaranatunga in an interview with the 'Sunday Observer'.

He said the telegram is the most reliable source to send messages to relatives and friends in case of a death or an untoward incident in the family.

The Minister said he read in news bulletins and newspapers that the Postal Department has stopped the telegram service. But there is no truth in the news.

The telegram has been a vital mode of communication in the country for more than 200 years, since the introduction of Postal Services in Sri Lanka. Traditionally, telegrams are dispatched to deliver urgent and important messages. Telegrams today are used to send official documents such as disciplinary action, written warnings or on a lesser legal note, birthday greetings, messages of congratulations or even marking an employee's special year of service. Telegrams in the UK are either hand delivered by the Personal Messenger Delivery Service, or by the first class post, in the officially branded telegram envelope and paper. It has proven to be an effective method of encouraging, customers into immediate action. The telegram's features are, uniqueness, excellent response rate, official document, legal status, professional image and personal messenger delivery.

The telegram service is an important service provided by the Postal Department. It has been the only reliable mode of communication of the village folk since then.

A survey conducted by the Postal Department has shown that the villager still likes the telegram service, and gives much prominence to it. The people depended on the telegram service until the advent of modern telecommunication modes, Minister Kumaranatunga said.

There are some practical problems in operating the telegram service. The people are not aware as to who is the owner of the telegram service. Telecom is the owner of the telegram service. Only the delivery is carried out by the Postal Department. When the Postal Department and Sri Lanka Telecom functioned under one Ministry such issues did not arise. Nobody talked about the responsibility or the expenditure of the Telegram service, the Minister said.

Now the two institutions function under different Ministries, Minister Kumaranatunga said.

The Postal Department is only the distributing agent of the telegram. The Postal Department does not benefit by the telegram service, he said.

The Postal Department has deployed nearly 1,200 employees to deliver telegrams to customers. The Department pays the salary of the employees. A committee has been set up chaired by the Additional Secretary of the Postal Services Ministry to study the feasibility of introducing a new service in place of the telegram, Minister Kumaranatunga said.

He said representatives of the Sri Lanka Telecom and the Postal Department are discussing the issue.

Until the introduction of an optional service in place of the telegram it will not be stopped, Minister Kumaranatunga said.

"The telegram service will be stopped after the introduction of a new service in its place and is accepted by the Courts, the public, Government and Private sector institutions as a legal document. We have informed President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Cabinet in this regard", the Minister said.

"There is a need for 23,000 employees in the Postal Department but it is manned by only 17,000 employees at present. The Postal Delivery Department requires 8,000 employees but there are only 6,000 at present. Hence there is a shortage of 2,000 employees in this Division", Minister Kumaranatunga said.

He said plans are afoot to deploy employees engaged in the telegram delivery service to other services too. A solution can be found to overcome the shortage through this mechanism. Overtime payment can also be minimised by a considerable level.

"We have asked the Telecom whether to continue the service or share the cost of sending telegrams. The Telecom has no intention to run this service. As the Postal Department is the responsible institution of the telegram service we cannot stop the service immediately. In the event the Postal Department wishes to scrap the telegram service, an authentic service other than the telegram should be introduced. Only then can the telegram service be scrapped", the Minister said.

"The Postal Department plans to introduce tele-mail and telefax services. These services will be available in post offices after the completion of the networking. The Government has allocated Rs. 600 million for the program under the Mahinda Chinthanaya national development concept, Minister Kumaranatunga said.

He said, "some rural folk in the villages are unable to write even a single word. It is the responsibility of the Postal Department to provide them the facilities.

"The educated people will also get an opportunity to send messages to their relatives or friends in their own hand writing with confidentiality after the introduction of the new service.

'The newly employed staff have been instructed to provide a satisfactory service to customers. We can sustain only by providing a satisfactory public service. The employees have been trained to deal with the customers in a friendly manner".

Minister Kumaranatunga expressed confidence that a firm decision can be taken in relation to the telegram service in a couple of months. A discussion in this regard was held at the Ministry last week, he said.

The Post Master General, Rohana Abeyratne said that the telegram service has not been stopped yet. There is no truth in the news published in the media. We cannot change the situation at once.

If we wish to stop the telegram service we should introduce another service to take its place.

Mr. Abeyratne said although we have the tele mail service now it is not popular. For the past two to three years we have been operating the tele mail service. But this service does not hamper the telegram service.

If a particular service is to be introduced in place of the telegram we have to advertise it three months before the introduction of such service, the Post Master General said.

The telegram possesses features such as the e-code. It could also be used as a legal document. We should give the same status to the new product. Therefore, we have to get the approval of the Cabinet. Only then can we introduce the new product, he said.

"A telegram costs nearly Rs. 250 but only 15 rupees is charged from the customer. The Postal Department is not a profit making organisation. We are service providers but we have some services by which we make a profit. We could make a profit from value added services and agency services, Mr. Abeyratne said.

Now we have expanded our courier service which had been limited to the Colombo city. We have started the courier service in Nuwara-Eliya, Kandy, Badulla, Kurunegala and Jaffna as a pilot project, he said.

We have engaged 20 vans to run the service uninterruptedly, Abeyratne said.

Pix: Dushmantha Mayadunne