Post offices in Bengal to deliver pension at home for elderly people

Kolkata, Mar 31 () Post offices in West Bengal willdeliver pension at the home of people who are 80-years old orabove during the lockdown period, a senior official of thepostal department said.

For others pension will be disbursed from the postoffices from April 3, the official said.

"We have decided to deliver pension right at thedoorsteps of citizens who are 80-years and above or those whoare infirm", chief postmaster general (CPMG) of West Bengalcircle Goutam Bhattacharya told .

He said delivery of pension at home will start from April4 onwards and those who will be the beneficiaries havealready been intimated in this regard.

"This is an extraordinary situation for which we havetaken this measure. For others, pension will be disbursed fromApril 3 as the previous two days fall under annualclosing", he said.

Those coming to post offices for pension withdrawals,cash deposits will have to maintain social distancing as pergovernment guidelines and hand sanitizers will also beprovided.

People delivering pension at home will be given adequatesecurity to avert any untoward incident, he said.

Bhattacharya said the main priority of the postaldepartment is to see that there are no problems regarding cashwithdrawals from savings accounts.

"Not all the post offices will remain open during thelockdown period due to lack of manpower as many of our staffcome from neighbouring districts, but the major ones like headand sub-post offices will be kept open", he added.

The ATMs of the post offices, which are inter-operablewith banks, will remain open across the state.

The postal department has also given priority fortransport of medical kits and other related parcels to otherplaces.

"Since trains are not running, we are sending theseparcels by road wherever possible. For long distances, theitems are being transported by cargo flights of Air India,Spicejet and Blue Dart", he said. dcRG RG