Coronavirus Communications minister Ravi Shankar Prasad directs India Post to prioritise medicines delivery

Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday directed the Department of Posts to prioritise delivery of medicines during the lockdown.

The post offices have been kept open under essential services to support movement of important documents and parcels during the lockdown.

"I have instructed Secretary, Dept.of Posts to ensure that delivery of medicines through Speed Post is given the highest priority during lockdown. All employees of @IndiaPostOffice should be sensitized so that no one should face any difficulty in receiving or sending medicines," Prasad said in his tweet.

The minister also shared that the postal department has been able to achieve record financial transaction during the lockdown either by paying people at their doorstep or from nearby post offices.

"Delighted to announce that @IndiaPostOffice today (Monday) hit an all-time high, crossing 1 lakh mark, to record 1.09 lakh transactions a day in disbursing cash through Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS)," the minister said in his tweet.

Several state governments and central government departments dole out benefits of various scheme through India Post.

"Through these (AEPS) 1.09 Lakh transactions @IndiaPostOffice disbursed Rs. 22.82 Crore of cash in a day to people at their doorsteps or Post Offices nearby using a simple fingerprint authentication, ensuring availability of cash in their hand during lockdown," the minister said.