Postal Dept. to make profits soon

Bandula Gunasekara, Matara Staff Correspondent, Matara District special and Malimbada Group Correspondents

The Postal Department which is running at a loss will be definitely transformed into a profitable institution with the financial allocations made in the next Budget, said Posts and Telecommunications Minister Rauf Hakeem.

The Minister said so at a meeting held at the Matara Nupe Cultural Centre to mark the presentations of appointment letters to a batch of acting Sub-Post Masters absorbed into the Permanent Cadre recently.

Hakeem said the present financial crisis in the Postal Department was mainly due to the increased salary bill incurred due to the department falling in line with the successive salary increments granted to public servants by the Government rather than loss of revenue.

The annual income of the Department was around Rs. 2,700 million while annual salaries and overtime payments amounted to Rs. 4,700 million.

Hakeem said the Postal Service is a People's Service. Although the private sector was willing to invest in the Postal Sector the Government would never privatise the Postal Department.

However some restructuring had to be undertaken to transform the department into a profitable institution.

Hakeem said the Postal Department should keep pace with modern technological developments in the world. Therefore if the Department was to be conducted as a business enterprise all post offices should be integrated into an electronic system.

Today there are nearly 1000 vacancies for postal peons. They would be able to fill at least 500 of these vacancies with allocations made in the next budget. He said the sub-postmasters absorbed into the permanent cadre had a major role to play in transforming the Postal department into a profitable concern.

Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said no people's representative was willing to deprive a person of his or her job. The longstanding problem of acting sub-postmasters was solved due to the intervention of President. Although Cabinet papers are approved there are times their implementation was delayed due to various reasons.

He said the President who solved the Eastern Province problem would solve the Northern problem too soon. The previous UNP regime had no proper plan to provide employment to trainees under the Tharuna Aruna programme. The UNP Democratic group joined the Government to render some service to the country and its people.

The Minister who said that the Government had ensured full media freedom added that no section of the media should try to undermine the Government by taking cover behind that freedom. Southern Provincial Council member Weerasunmana Weerasena, Post Master General Sherwin Senadheera and several others also spoke.