Lok Sabha Question No. 1033 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-03-02
Subject: Opening of Post Offices
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: JOSE K. MANI, RAJAN BABURAO  VICHARE, SADASHIV KISAN LOKHANDE, JAYSHREEBEN  PATEL, ARJUNLAL MEENA

## MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF POSTS

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1033

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 2 nd  MARCH,  2016

## OPENING OF POST OFFICES

1033.  SHRI JOSE K. MANI:

SHRI RAJAN VICHARE:

SHRI SADASHIV LOKHANDE:

SHRIMATI JAYSHREEBEN PATEL:

SHRI ARJUN LAL MEENA:

Will the Minister of  COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of post offices and sub-post offices in both urban and rural areas of the country, State-wise including Maharashtra, Rajasthan and the criteria for opening of new post offices in rural areas;

- (b) whether the same criteria is applicable for desert, hilly and coastal areas of the country;

- (c) if so, the details thereof along with the covering area and population in the above areas;

- (d) whether  the  Government  has  reviewed  the  expansion  of  post  offices  and  ongoing/pending  postal  and  telecommunication projects in the country;

- (e) if so, the details thereof State-wise including Rajasthan and Maharashtra and the details of proposals received for setting up and upgradation of post offices in the country, State-wise including in district level post offices in Udaipur; and

- (f) the number of people in whose name postal stamps have been released till date and the policy adopted by the Government for Post Bank?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

- (a) State-wise number of Post Offices functional in both urban and rural areas of the country including Maharashtra and Rajasthan (as on 31.03.2015) are at Annexure-I.

Contd……2/-

-2-

- (b)     For desert and hilly areas, the criteria are different whereas for coastal area, the general norms for opening of post offices in rural areas are applicable.

- (c) The  details  of  distance,  population  and  income  criteria  applicable  for  opening  of  new  post  offices  in  desert,  hilly,  tribal  and inaccessible areas are at Annexure-III .

- (d) & (e)   Review of expansion of post offices is an on-going process. On review, if it is found that opening of new post offices are justified in particular areas as per prescribed norms for opening of new post offices, post offices are opened in those areas by relocation & redeployment under Plan Scheme.

As  regards  telecommunication  projects,  various  schemes  are  implemented  with  the  financial  support  from  Universal  Service Obligation Fund (USOF) for expansion of telecom services in rural and remote areas, details are at Annexure-IV.

The details of proposals received for opening and upgradation of post offices in the country are at Annexure-V. At present, there is no proposal under consideration for opening of district level post office in Udiapur (Rajasthan).

- (f) There are 796 eminent personalities on whom postage stamps have been released till date.

The Government has proposed to set up India Post Payments Bank as a Public Limited Company with 100% Government equity under the Department of Posts. Reserve Bank of India has given 'in-principle approval' for setting up the Payment Bank. The Payments Bank will leverage infrastructure of the post office to extend basic banking services such as payments, remittances, current & savings accounts and third party products especially in rural, un-banked and under-banked areas.

Contd…….3/-

## Annexure-I

| Sl.No   | Name of the State/UT   | HOs   | HOs   | SOs   | SOs   |     | EDBOs   | EDBOs   | Total   | Total   | Total No. of Post Offices   |
|---------|------------------------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-----|---------|---------|---------|---------|-----------------------------|
| Sl.No   | Name of the State/UT   | Urban | Rural | Urban | Rural |     | Urban   | Rural   | Urban   | Rural   |                             |
| 1       | Andhra Pradesh         | 56    | 3     | 583   | 950   |     | 134     | 8649    | 773     | 9602    | 10375                       |
|         | Telangana              | 35    | 1     | 388   | 429   | 1.1 | 159     | 4768    | 582     | 5198    | 5780                        |
| 2       | Assam                  | 19    | 0     | 211   | 396   |     | 135     | 3251    | 365     | 3647    | 4012                        |
|         | Bihar                  | 30    | 1     | 398   | 622   | 3   | 45      | 7971    | 473     | 8594    | 9067                        |
| 4       | Chhattisgarh           | 10    | 0     | 238   | 99    |     | 20      | 2780    | 268     | 2879    | 3147                        |
| 5       | Delhi                  | 12    | 0     | 387   | 4     |     | 69      | 79      | 468     | 83      | 551                         |
| 6       | Gujarat                | 34    | 0     | 655   | 639   |     | 94      | 7504    | 783     | 8143    | 8926                        |
| 6.1     | Dadra & Nagar Haveli   | 0     | 0     | 1     | 3     |     | 0       | 34      | 1       | 37      | 38                          |
| 6.2     | Daman & Diu            | 0     | 0     | 4     | 3     |     | 1       | 11      | 5       | 14      | 19                          |
| 7       | Haryana                | 16    | 0     | 301   | 180   |     | 28      | 2152    | 345     | 2332    | 2677                        |
| 8       | Himachal Pradesh       | 15    | 3     | 97    | 351   |     | 6       | 2310    | 118     | 2664    | 2782                        |
| 9       | Jammu & Kashmir        | 9     | 0     | 163   | 93    |     | 25      | 1409    | 197     | 1502    | 1699                        |
|         | Jharkhand              | 13    | 0     | 221   | 222   | 10  | 30      | 2613    | 264     | 2835    | 3099                        |
| 11      | Karnataka              | 58    | 0     | 817   | 837   |     | 179     | 7776    | 1054    | 8613    | 9667                        |
| 12      | Kerala                 | 45    | 6     | 473   | 974   |     | 334     | 3222    | 852     | 4202    | 5054                        |
| 12.1    | Lakshadweep            | 0     | 0     | 6     | 3     |     | 0       | 1       | 6       | 4       | 10                          |
| 12.2    | Mahe                   | 0     | 0     | 1     | 0     |     | 3       | 0       | 4       | 0       | 4                           |
| 13      | Madhya Pradesh         | 43    | 0     | 688   | 332   |     | 104     | 7156    | 835     | 7488    | 8323                        |
| 14      | Maharashtra            | 58    | 1     | 1081  | 971   |     | 102     | 10388   | 1241    | 11360   | 12601                       |
| 14.1    | Goa                    | 2     | 0     | 45    | 57    |     | 7       | 147     | 54      | 204     | 258                         |
| 15      | North East             | 9     | 0     | 137   | 189   |     | 82      | 2503    | 228     | 2692    | 2920                        |
| 16      | Odisha                 | 35    | 0     | 502   | 661   |     | 56      | 6915    | 593     | 7576    | 8169                        |

| 17   | Punjab        |   21 |   0 |   371 |   329 |    |   12 3074 |    404 |   3403 |        |   3807 |
|------|---------------|------|-----|-------|-------|----|-----------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| 17.1 | Chandigarh    |    1 |   0 |    38 |     2 |    |         2 |      6 |     41 |      8 |     49 |
| 18   | Rajasthan     |   47 |   1 |   585 |   716 |    |        27 |   8953 |    659 |   9670 |  10329 |
| 19   | Tamil Nadu    |   93 |   0 |  1386 |  1312 |    |       344 |   8899 |   1823 |  10211 |  12034 |
| 19.1 | Pondicherry   |    1 |   0 |    24 |    10 |    |        13 |     48 |     38 |     58 |     96 |
|      | Uttarakhand   |   13 |   0 |   180 |   200 | 20 |        14 |   2316 |    207 |   2516 |   2723 |
|      | Uttar Pradesh |   72 |   0 |  1604 |   867 | 21 |       249 |  14863 |   1925 |  15730 |  17655 |
| 22   | West Bengal   |   45 |   0 |   924 |   743 |    |       118 |   6929 |   1087 |   7672 |   8759 |
| 22.1 | A & n Islands |    1 |   0 |    10 |    16 |    |         1 |     72 |     12 |     88 |    100 |
| 22.2 | Sikkim        |    1 |   0 |    11 |    11 |    |         0 |    186 |     12 |    197 |    209 |
|      | Total         |  794 |  16 | 12530 | 12221 |    |      2393 | 126985 |  15717 | 139222 | 154939 |

## CRITERIA / NORMS FOR OPENING OF NEW POST OFFICES IN RURAL AREAS

## 1. Norms for opening of Branch Post Offices (BOs):

## 1.1 Population:

## In Normal Rural Areas:

3000  population  in  the  group  of  villages  to  be  served  by  the  proposed  post  office (including 1000 population in  the proposed post office  village).

## 1.2 Distance:

In  Normal  Rural  Areas: The minimum distance from the nearest existing post office should be 3 Kms.

## 1.3 Anticipated Income:

In Normal Rural Areas: The minimum anticipated revenue will be 33.33 % of the cost. It is further to be ensured that as a result of opening of a new BO, the loss in respect of the  parent  post  office  does  not  increase  beyond  the  permissible  limit  nor  does  its income reduce below the minimum prescribed.

## 2. Norms for upgrading/ opening of Departmental Sub Post Offices (SOs):

In Normal Rural Areas: The minimum work load of the BOs proposed to be upgraded, should be five hours per day. The permissible limit of annual loss in normal rural areas is Rs.2,400/-

It is further to be ensured that as a result of opening of a new post office, the loss in respect of the parent post office does not increase beyond the permissible limit nor does its income reduce below the minimum prescribed.

## CRITERIA / NORMS FOR OPENING OF NEW POST OFFICES IN  HILLY, TRIBAL, DESERT AND INACCESSIBLE AREAS

## 1. Norms for opening of Branch Post Offices (BOs):

## 1.1  Population:

In Hill, Tribal, Desert and Inaccessible Areas:

500 Population in the individual village and 1000 population in the group of villages.

## 1.2 Distance:

In Hill, Tribal, Desert and Inaccessible Areas: The minimum distance limit  from the nearest existing post office should be 3 km. However, in Hilly, Tribal and Inaccessible areas,  the  minimum  distance  limit  can  be  relaxed  by  the  Postal  Directorate  in  cases where such relaxation is warranted by special circumstances which should be clearly explained while submitting a proposal.

## 1.3 Anticipated Income:

In Hill, Tribal, Desert and Inaccessible Areas: The minimum anticipated income will be 15% of the cost.

2. Norms for upgrading/ opening of Departmental Sub Post Offices (SOs):

In  Hill,  Tribal,  Desert  and  Inaccessible  Areas: The minimum work load of the BOs proposed to be upgraded, should be five hours per day. The permissible limit of annual loss in normal rural areas is Rs.4,800/-

It  is  further  to  be  ensured  that  as  a  result  of  opening  of  a  new  BO, the  loss  in respect of the parent post office does not increase beyond the permissible limit nor does its income reduce below the minimum prescribed.

## Details of schemes being implemented by the Department of Telecommunications for expansion of telecom services in rural and

## remote areas

- (i) National  Optical  Fibre  Network  (NOFN): National  Optical  Fibre  Network (NOFN)  project  was  planned,  in  2011,  to  connect    all  Gram  Panchayats  (approx.  2.5 lakh) in the country through Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) utilizing existing fibres of Public Sector  Undertakings  (PSUs)  viz.  Bharat  Sanchar  Nigam  Limited  (BSNL),  Power  Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) and RailTel and laying incremental fiber wherever necessary to bridge the connectivity gap between Gram Panchayats (GPs) and Blocks for providing broadband connectivity. The project is being executed by a Special Purpose Vehicle  (SPV),  namely,  Bharat  Broadband  Network  Limited  (BBNL),  which  has  been incorporated  on  25.02.2012  under  Indian  Companies  Act,  1956.  Under  this  project,  at least  100  Mbps  bandwidth  has  to  be  provided  in  all  the  estimated  2.5  lakh  GPs  for utilization  by  all  categories  of  service  providers  on  non-discriminatory  basis  including Internet  Service  Providers.  State-wise  status  of  NOFN,  as  on  31.01.2016,  is  given  at Appendix-I.
- (ii) Telecom Connectivity in LWE Affected Areas: Government has approved the project on 20.08.2014 to provide Mobile services in 2,199 locations [1,836 new sites & 363  sites  already  installed  by  Bharat  Sanchar  Nigam  Limited  (BSNL)]  in  Left  Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The  estimated  project  implementation  cost  is  Rs.3,567.58  crore,  to  be  funded from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF). BSNL has been nominated to execute the  project.  As  on  15.02.2016,  1,431  mobile  towers  are  radiating  out  of  2,199  mobile towers.

## Appendix-I (to Annexure-IV)

## State-wise Status of NOFN (Bharat Net) as on 31.01.2016

| Sl. No.   | States/ UTs          | No. of Gram Panchayats (GPs) - Phase I   | Pipe laid ( in kms.)   | Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) laid (in kms)   | No. of GPs where OFC laid   | No. of GPs lit   |
|-----------|----------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------|-------------------------------------------|-----------------------------|------------------|
| 1.        | Jammu & Kashmir      | 624                                      | 93                     | 69                                        | 47                          | 0                |
| 2.        | Himachal Pradesh     | 283                                      | 201                    | 75                                        | 14                          | 0                |
| 3.        | Punjab               | 6128                                     | 4432                   | 3280                                      | 2055                        | 0                |
| 4.        | Haryana              | 6090                                     | 4775                   | 4340                                      | 2776                        | 45               |
| 5.        | Rajasthan            | 6967                                     | 11281                  | 10065                                     | 3092                        | 71               |
| 6.        | Chandigarh           | 12                                       | 18                     | 19                                        | 12                          | 12               |
| 7.        | Uttarakhand          | 1767                                     | 1190                   | 862                                       | 554                         | 46               |
| 8.        | UP (West)            | 8040                                     | 8095                   | 4290                                      | 2055                        | 65               |
| 9.        | UP (East)            | 14474                                    | 14634                  | 10545                                     | 4764                        | 36               |
| 10.       | Bihar                | 5202                                     | 6416                   | 5303                                      | 1936                        | 124              |
| 11.       | West Bengal          | 2713                                     | 1933                   | 1683                                      | 619                         | 0                |
| 12.       | Sikkim               | 0                                        | 0                      | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 13.       | Assam                | 1013                                     | 1751                   | 1359                                      | 515                         | 23               |
| 14.       | Jharkhand            | 1388                                     | 2600                   | 1862                                      | 770                         | 84               |
| 15.       | Odisha               | 3388                                     | 4086                   | 2960                                      | 1355                        | 12               |
| 16.       | Andaman & Nicobar    | 69                                       | 0                      | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 17.       | Arunachal Pradesh    | 256                                      | 272                    | 69                                        | 10                          | 0                |
| 18.       | Nagaland             | 743                                      | 1160                   | 509                                       | 154                         | 0                |
| 19.       | Manipur              | 24                                       | 71                     | 73                                        | 24                          | 0                |
| 20.       | Meghalaya            | 638                                      | 737                    | 210                                       | 47                          | 0                |
| 21.       | Tripura              | 1021                                     | 1277                   | 951                                       | 434                         | 40               |
| 22.       | Mizoram              | 163                                      | 183                    | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 23.       | Madhya Pradesh       | 10516                                    | 15531                  | 12134                                     | 3898                        | 26               |
| 24.       | Chhattishgarh        | 2110                                     | 4368                   | 3913                                      | 1258                        | 171              |
| 25.       | Gujarat              | 5735                                     | 5508                   | 3572                                      | 1648                        | 91               |
| 26.       | Maharashtra          | 12055                                    | 11078                  | 7826                                      | 3478                        | 37               |
| 27.       | Daman & Diu          | 0                                        | 0                      | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 28.       | Dadra & Nagar Haveli | 0                                        | 0                      | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 29.       | Karnataka            | 5599                                     | 9596                   | 9248                                      | 4348                        | 2283             |
| 30.       | Andhra Pradesh       | 0                                        | 1913                   | 19                                        | 0                           | 0                |
| 31.       | Telangana            | 2097                                     | 3912                   | 2883                                      | 1296                        | 5                |
| 32.       | Tamil Nadu           | 0                                        | 0                      | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 33.       | Kerala               | 977                                      | 746                    | 810                                       | 1129                        | 1129             |
| 34.       | Pudducherry          | 98                                       | 82                     | 92                                        | 98                          | 101              |
| 35.       | Lakshadweep          | 10                                       | 0                      | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 36.       | Goa*                 | -                                        | -                      | -                                         | -                           | -                |
| Total     | Total                | 100200                                   | 117939                 | 89021                                     | 38386                       | 4401             |

## Annexure-V

## Postal Circle-wise number of proposals received for  opening & upgradation of post offices

| Sl. No.   | Name of the Postal Circles                                                                        |   No. of proposals received |
|-----------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------|
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh                                                                                    |                          17 |
| 2         | Assam                                                                                             |                          02 |
| 3         | Bihar                                                                                             |                          17 |
| 4         | Chhattisgarh                                                                                      |                          12 |
| 5         | Delhi                                                                                             |                          32 |
| 6         | Gujarat including Daman & Diu and Dadar & Nagar Haveli                                            |                          07 |
| 7         | Haryana                                                                                           |                          06 |
| 8         | Himachal Pradesh                                                                                  |                          23 |
| 9         | Jammu & Kashmir                                                                                   |                           0 |
| 10        | Jharkhand                                                                                         |                          01 |
| 11        | Karnataka                                                                                         |                          11 |
| 12        | Kerala including Lakshadweep                                                                      |                          07 |
| 13        | Madhya Pradesh                                                                                    |                          10 |
| 14        | Maharashtra including Goa                                                                         |                          21 |
| 15        | North East [States includes Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura) |                          24 |
| 16        | Odisha                                                                                            |                          10 |
| 17        | Punjab including Chandigarh                                                                       |                          12 |
| 18        | Rajasthan                                                                                         |                          05 |
| 19        | Tamil Nadu including Pudducherry                                                                  |                          11 |
| 20        | Telangana                                                                                         |                          13 |
| 20        | Uttarakhand                                                                                       |                          04 |
| 21        | Uttar Pradesh                                                                                     |                          13 |
| 22        | West Bengal including Sikkim                                                                      |                          11 |
|           | Total                                                                                             |                         269 |