'Passport Seva Kendra to open in every LS segment'

Project cost at Rs 300-400 crore

Post Office Passport Seva Kendra will be opened in every Lok Sabha constituency, Communications Minister Manoj Sinha said on Tuesday.

"There will be Post Office Passport Seva Kendra in every Lok Sabha constituency. POPSK has started at 221 places and 491 places have been identified where we have to work. There is space available in most of the places and problem in some, for which we are making alternate arrangements," the minister told reporters here.

He said that till date 15 lakh people have received passport in 15 days. Even in small cities like Betia, Ghazipur, Azamgarh.

The postal department has set a target to more than double its market share in parcel business in the next two years from the current 3-4 % share in parcel business.

In 2017-18, India Post handled 618 crore mail articles, 18 crore registered articles and 46 crore speed post articles, he said.

According to a KPMG report, the e-commerce retail logistics market alone is valued at USD 1.35 billion in 2018, and is projected to witness a growth of around 36% in the coming five years in India.

The Minister said that the department has set-up call centre in Varanasi to handle customer grievances and resolve complaints.

He noted that India Post Payments Bank, which was started on September 1, has been able to open 12 lakh accounts with deposits of around Rs 13 crore.