With the Department of Posts rolling out plans to provide various Internet-enabled services in all the post offices across the country, the telegram is bracing for consignment to history.As per the department's pilot project "Arrow", about 200 post offices across the country would be upgraded in terms of various kinds of e-services in the first phase so that they could act as a window to the world for the common people in rural areas, S K Chakrabarti, Chief Postmaster General of North East Circle, said.
E-services like e-post, Western Union Money Order service and Instant Money Order Service, which were hitherto confined to post offices in urban areas, would now be extended to posts offices in the rural areas.
Out of 1.55 lakh post offices in the country, 1.38 lakh are located in the rural areas which serve 80 percent of the rural population.
Broadband facilities would be provided by BSNL to all the post offices gradually.
"In many places the telegram has already become redundant. Of course some organisations and agencies still prefer telegram due to unavailability of Internet," Chakrabarti said.
