Kolkata: In a significant stride towards modernisation of its services, the Bengal circle of the Department of Posts has kicked off 'Project Darpan' for online payment facilities at all the post offices across the state.
The project is aimed at eliminating the manual system of transactions that was followed at the post offices in the state.
"We have already initiated the project at 650 post offices in South 24-Parganas. The manual system has been done away with savings bank and money order dealings in the post offices. We are gradually moving towards the online mode in most of the other services too. This will expedite the transaction process and contribute in saving time," said Arundhaty Ghosh, Chief Post Master General (PMG), Bengal circle.
A senior official of the department said that the process of switching to the online system is a challenging task, particularly in the areas where electric connection is not at its best.
"We have earmarked the districts on the basis of their area and the number of post offices. South 24-Parganas is a district in which the number of post offices are on the higher side. There are also some villages where there are hardly any bank and people have to depend entirely on post offices," the official added.
The department has installed solar panels at 142 places, to ensure uninterrupted power supply to a number of post offices located in the most remote areas of the district, where electric connection is a problem.
The post master has been directed to assist the rural people in using the mini machines similar to POS machines, which are being used for such transactions.
"Elaborate measures have been taken to ensure that all transactions are safe, secure and authenticated by the post master of the respective post offices" the official maintained.
The department has plans to introduce this facility division-wise, in all the districts of the state.