Headless Coimbatore Postal Region
Coimbatore postal region is headless since the transfer of Post Master General (PMG) K V Sundar Rajan in August and the PMG in Chennai has been given the additional charge. For administrative reasons, a separate postal region was formed with Coimbatore as headquarters on April 2, 1979. Subsequently, it was converted as western region on March 15, 1990. Sources said that the western region has jurisdiction over the districts of Coimbatore, Erode, Salem, Namakkal, Nilgiris and Dharmapuri covering 38,982 sq km catering to the postal needs of over 1.5 crore population. The western region is being headed by a PMG.
The idea behind decentralising the powers of the postal region was to make it independent for making key decisions and taking care of the needs of the public and staff which come under the ambit of the PMG, western region. Besides, there is Director of Postal Services (DPS) who comes under PMG. Citizen’s Voice Club secretary C M Jeyaraam said there had been a few occasions since the formation of the western region when both PMG and DPS were posted. Whenever PMG is posted, the post of DPS remains vacant and vice versa. After the transfer of Sundar Rajan, the post fell vacant. However, a Director of Postal Services was posted. Meanwhile, PMG Ramanujam from Chennai has been looking after the affairs of the western region.
Sources said that though he visits Coimbatore once in a while, the files is often moved to Chennai for his perusal. Jeyaraam said that the purpose for which a PMG post was created, to take care of the needs of the public, has been defeated as scores of depositors, who were taken for a ride by a Mahila agent in Kovaipudur, are moving heaven and earth to get back their amount. They are not in a position to address their grievances to the PMG.
