Posts Dept. reeking of corruption, charges UPTO

Claims new services introduced sans feasibility study

By Chathuri Dissanayake

Vacancies not filled, overtime banned

Mr. Navaratne Bandara admitted that Postal Department employees were guilty of the common public allegation that ‘everything in post offices happen in slow motion’. However he said it was an inevitable situation due to the present conditions in the Department.

According to him most of the post offices were short staffed with the Department having about 1000 vacancies. No new employees had been recruited since 1996. The UPTO claimed many employees worked overtime to cover up the shortage but complained the Department had issued a circular banning any overtime payment.

“The Department has not conducted any programmes to train the staff to meet the requirements of the day. The unions had suggested to the management on numerous occasions to conduct motivation building programmes for the staff but with no response,” Mr. Navaratne Bandara said.

“We have an aging staff and naturally their levels of productivity are below the expected level and we are heavily understaffed too. We should recruit more young people and train them. This is what many of the private banks and other private organizations do. Unlike the older employees the young recruits have less personal problems and are ready to take on the challenge and work hard. This is what the Department needs as well,” he said.

The Union of Postal and Telecommunication Officers (UPTO) took to the streets this week to protest against fraud and corruption in the Postal Department.

The difference between the income and expenditure of the Department had risen to Rs. 2808 million in 2006 up from Rs. 582.6 million in 2003. The officers blame the sporadic decision making of the management as the cause for the loss whereas the Postmaster General K. S. Senadheera had attributed the increased loss to the increase in employee salaries.

Issuing a combined statement 17 trade unions in the Postal Department warned that they would go for an islandwide strike if the relevant authorities did not take speedy action to remedy the present situation.

The union leaders refused to discuss matters with the Ministry Secretary as they alleged he was guilty as well. The Posts and Telecommunications Ministry Secretary S. Kaluarachchi had been appointed to head a committee to probe the irregularities in the Department.

According to the UPTO officers the income of the Department has been stagnant as all the new services introduced by the Department had ended in failure.

“The Department had not carried out a proper feasibility study before these services were introduced. Internet surfing facilities have been introduced to areas where the post offices did not even have electricity. The average annual income from this service is only Rs. 496.09 per post office. It would take at least another 200 years to collect the money spent on the project. Other services such as communication locales, e-money order services and an internet job banking system have suffered a similar fate. The 2006 annual report does not even mention these services,” UPTO president H. M. Navaratne Bandara told The Sunday Times. However Mr. Senadeera claimed these services were only value-added services and had been set up with out any additional cost to the Department. According to him the services were being used by the public and thus no loss had been incurred by the Department through these projects.

The UPTO claimed the management of business mail which makes up the majority of the post was fraudulent. According to UPTO officers business mail of Sri Lanka Telecom, Mobitel and Dialog alone should bring a revenue of Rs. 97.25 million for the Department. However the annual report quotes only Rs. 63.21 million as the total income from all business mail which shows a difference of Rs. 34.04 million.

Business mail service is used by a number of major companies and banks such as HSBC, NDB, PABC, Sampath Bank and the major service providers which use the postal system to deliver their monthly statements.

“The bulk mail department does not count the mail of each company separately. All the mail comes via a company called Toppan Form (Pvt) Ltd and it is clear that there is a lot of corruption taking place through this company” said Mr. Navaratne Bandara.

According to the UPTO the mismanagement and corruption has cost the Department of millions of rupees that would have come as revenue from business mail alone.

The UPTO also claims that the monopoly status of the postal services which is protected by the Constitution is at risk as a certain private company is said to be starting its own mail delivery system for business mail. Toppan Form (Pvt) Ltd. director H. Fredric confirmed plans to start a private mail delivery company.

However Mr. Senadeera said his Department was in the process of taking legal action against companies that tried to set up such mail delivery systems.

“We came to know of this company through a paper advertisement that advertised for postmen. It is illegal to deliver mail through any private person. We are working with the Attorney General on the matter,” he said. The UPTO claimed no action has been taken on previous corruption charges.

Mr. Navaratne Bandara said the internal audit report recommending action against various officers on corruption charges in the department had gone unnoticed.

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