100 days of government: postal service transformed for service delivery

Kathmandu: Once lying idle with questions over its significance, the postal service in the country is now being developed as a modern, technology-friendly and citizen-friendly service delivery mechanism.

Thanks to the new government in place and it’s 100-point agenda, the Department of Postal Services has made significant progress so far as a public goods transportation service. This was also included under the 10 major tasks within the scope of the Ministry of Information and Communications.

Director General of the Department, Manmaya Bhattarai Pangeni, says a system has been implemented to modernize the postal service and deliver passports, citizenship certificates, driving licenses, academic certificates and other government documents and goods to people’s doorsteps.

So far, 27,834 passports have been transported to the District Administration Offices in 75 districts, and out of these, 6,293 have been delivered to the doorsteps of service recipients.

Department of Passports and the Department of Postal Services have reached an agreement to deliver passports, letters and other government materials to all District Administration Offices through post.

Likewise, 88,044 licenses received through the Department of Transport Management have been delivered to the Transport Management Offices of all seven provinces through post. In addition, 1,093 driving licenses have been delivered to the doorsteps of service recipients in Kaski, Morang, Banke, Parsa, Sunsari, Kalikot, Bajhang and other districts.

Under the arrangement for delivering academic certificates to the doorsteps, an agreement was signed between Nepal Open University and the Department of Postal Services. Discussions are underway to make a similar arrangement with Tribhuvan University. However, so far, 263 academic certificates of Tribhuvan University have been delivered to the homes of the concerned persons through post.

In the health sector, 1,238 laboratory samples from 17 hospitals have been transported in conjunction with the National Public Health Laboratory. As per the agreement with the Health Education and Information Center, 4,686 kg of health education-related materials have been delivered to district and local health offices in 70 districts. Similarly, 2,420 kg of health materials have been transported to health insurance offices in 28 districts by making an agreement with the Health Insurance Board, the department has stated.

To facilitate foreign postal services, arrangements have been made to operate the services of the Foreign Postal Customs Office and the National Commercial Bank even on holidays in coordination with the Department of Postal Services. In addition, a special fast-track process has been arranged at the Tribhuvan International Airport to further expedite the transportation of foreign postal materials.

The department has stated that supplementary agreements have been signed with various airline companies, including Yeti Airlines, to facilitate air transportation of postal materials. It has also stated that discussions have been held with Qatar Airlines to expand additional international destinations. An agreement has been concluded between Nepal Telecom and the Department of Postal Services regarding the transportation of SIM cards and other materials distributed by Nepal Telecom through the post.

Similarly, the Ministry of Information and Communications, Department of Information Technology, Central Post Office, Department of Passport and Ministry of Foreign Affairs have discussed and submitted a report on upgrading the internal monitoring system of the post office, directly linking it with the Department of Passport.

In accordance with the government’s policies and programs, a campaign to gradually convert post offices across the country into smart post offices is underway. Under the Ministry of Information and Communications, 50 post offices have been selected to be developed as modern post offices based on information technology by approving the necessary criteria.