POSTAL DEPT. ON
THE E-WAY TO KEEP MONEY ORDER RELEVANT-- PRESS NEWS
Adapting:Much of the process of sending a money order has
been digitised over the years—Photo: K. Pichumani
Amid today’s
communication revolution, post offices too have come a long way from the days
of money orders delivered with handwritten notes.
The sending and
recording of money orders was computerised in 2008. A customer could opt for
various options — electronic money order, instant money order, mobile money
order and international money order. However, the volume of money orders
despatched has come down and today, nearly 90 per cent of such transactions
involve beneficiaries of various State and Central welfare schemes, including
old age pension.
A recent rumour
that the money order service has been scrapped sent shock waves among postal
customers and staff. Recalling those days when postal staff had to manually
record the details such as form number and sanctioned amount, J.
Srivenkatesh, circle president ( P3 Union TN Circle) of National Federation of
Postal Employees, said: “People still continue to fill forms manually. But we
have switched over to electronic mode of operations.”
Clarifying that
there were no plans to withdraw the service, Mervin Alexander, post master
general (Chennai City Region), said nearly nine lakh money orders are handled
in the region every month.
But, mobile money
transfer service wherein the customer must produce a text message with secret
code to receive money is yet to catch up.
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