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MADHUSUDAN GURAGAIN
BANEPA, July 7:
A tourist complained with acting chief of the Dhulikhel District Post
Office Biranchi Raj Sharma Sunday why the office does not provide
Internet although there is a notice saying Internet is available in the
office for Rs 10 per hour.
Sharma somehow handled the tourist saying that there is some problem
with the Net. Moments later a few school students turned up asking
whether Internet service has resumed but they returned after Sharma
gave some routine answers.
The e-post and Internet services supposed to be provided by the office
have not been provided for almost a year. The Pilot ePost Project was
initiated in Dhankuta of Eastern Region, Dhulikhel of Central and
Surkhet of Mid Western region as per the Unified Postal Reconstruction
and Development Master Plan to provide new services. But the services
have not been provided since six months after the start of the project
in Dhulikhel and Dhankuta due to computer and software problems. “We
have found that e-post is somehow running in Surkhet and have heard
that it has been stopped elsewhere,” e-post consultant Pankaj Adhikari
said.
The computers set up for providing e-post service have not been used in
the last one year. The equipment for Internet, email, computerized
counter, saving bank, e-money order, mobile post box service, laser
print, scanning, digital photo, and other useful software worth
millions of rupees have become obsolete. The staff have covered the
equipment with black clothes for protection.
Sharma admits that there is no technician to operate computers in the
office although the office has a quota for an assistant computer
operator. The postmen stay fiddling with the computers instead of
traveling to deliver letters. “I am running counter automation on the
back of just four days of training,” admits postman Devkrishna Shrestha.
The computer and automated registry software of the counter are not
functioning and the personnel are writing invoices manually as in the
past. Similarly, the staff have maintained manual accounts after the
software for Postal Saving Bank also stopped working.
The Ministry of Information and Postal Service Department had provided
the building and workforce for three e-post projects while
International Telecommunications Union (ITU) had donated 70,000 Swiss
francs, and Universal Postal Union (UPU) and Nepal Telecom Authority
had provided US$15,000 each.
Despite the apparent failure of e-post pilot project, the Postal
Service Department has aimed to open 50 such telecenters in 19
districts in the next year.
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