By IANS,
Chennai : The government is considering a proposal to put to commercial use across the country the land owned by the loss-making Department of Posts.
Launching the foreign money order service and a special scented stamp here Saturday, Minister of Communications and IT A. Raja said: “The Department of Posts is suffering a loss of Rs.5 billion. Our proposal to develop all the vacant sites owned by the department is under consideration of the Committee of Secretaries.”
In order to effectively use the vast network of post offices in the rural areas, Raja said the department was evaluating the possibility of tying up with public sector banks for originating deposits and even servicing them.
He also handed over the first foreign money order from the United Arab Emirates to Pushkala Narasimhan, a Chennai resident.
The department has signed a deal with the Emirates Post of the UAE for the service.
The service will be initially for inward remittances, from the UAE to India, and it will be later expanded to outward remittances, from India to the UAE.
The service will be available at 110 post offices in Delhi, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.