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GPO to stamp its return with a grand old look
An old counter at GPO and (left), the post office museum presently housed on D.R. Wijewardene Mawatha. Pix by Athula Devapriya
It will be business as usual by March at the 120 year-old General Post Office (GPO) in Fort, after a lapse of 10 years, Post Master General D.L.P. Rohana Abeyaratne said.
The grand old dame is getting a facelift estimated to cost over Rs. 200 million, with the aim of regaining its former colonial grandeur before all its functions are brought back under one roof.
The GPO was built by the British in the 1890s. In 2006 different departments and functions of the post office were transferred to different areas in Colombo for security reasons, the Post Master General explained.
Mr. Abeyaratane said they will be shifting back section by section as the entire building was undergoing renovations. He said finances have been sought from the Treasury.
He said the Navy had renovated the façade of the building and some of the counters inside, so initially three counters and the philatelic history museum in the lobby section would be opened.
“We wanted to bring back the grandeur that the building had during the British rule. The Navy did a wonderful job on the facade and we have asked them to renovate the counters according to our specifications. That cost around Rs 30 million,” he said.
He said three counters from the Bristol Street post office and staff will be back at the GPO next Month. Mr. Abeyaratne said they are yet to finalise the dress code of the employees at the counters and 500 new staff are to be recruited too.
Elaborating on features that will be added to promote the GPO as a tourist attraction, the Post Master General said stamp exhibitions and stamp sales outlets will be introduced.
He also said some employees will be dressed in uniforms of the British colonial era, not only at ceremonial events that mark the issuing of first day covers, but on normal days as well.
Mr. Abeyaratne also said the historical underground tunnel beneath the post masters’ office that connects to the Colombo Port, will be opened for visitors.
In colonial days Mr. Abeyaratne elaborated, the Post Master General acted on behalf of the British Governor when he was out of the country.
The Governor was the keeper of the keys to the tunnel and the cells in the tunnel that held prisoners on death row, and he would hand over these keys to the Post Master General when he was out of the country.
Mr. Abeyratane said in 2006 during the war the building was handed over to the security forces and the President’s Security Division.
After the war ended he said trade unions, and department heads had asked former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to return the building to the GPO but the request wasn’t granted.
Now, he said, President Maithripala Sirisena had acceded to the request.
He said in 2006 the postal counting station of the GPO was shifted to Bristol Street, the Investigation section to Havelock Town and the Post Master’s Office to D.R Wijewardene Mawatha.
Post Master General D.L.P. Rohana Abeyaratne
Giving a history of the GPO he said construction of the building was started in 1890 by the Government Workers’ Department.
The construction had been completed in two years at a cost of Rs 270,000 exceeding the estimated expenditure by Rs 60,000. He said some of the roof carvings were done to resemble those found in British castles.
Minister of Posts H.M Haleem said his office too would be shifted to the old building.
The GPO: Soon to be a hive of activity once again
Snapshot from the past