Arpita Charabarty | TNN | Dec 16, 2015, 10.28 PM IST
ALMORA: Nine villages in Pithoragarh district, with a total population of about 2,200, have a unique problem - they are geographically in Pithoragarh but the post office that caters to them is in Almora district. So letters sent from within Pithoragarh must first go to Almora and then return to Pithoragarh! While a letter from neighbouring Almora might arrive in about 10 days, letters from within Pithoragarh take about a month to reach the addressee.
Mohan Chandra Joshi, a resident of Pithoragarh's Sera Urf Baroli village, says any letter he sends to members of his family in other parts of the district takes a month to reach. Joshi's village is in Gangolihaat block, Pithoragarh. The post office (PO) that caters to the village is in Bhasiacchana, Almora.
Separated by the Saryu River, about 2,200 residents of these nine villages have got accustomed to being extraordinarily patient with the department of posts. The anger, however, surges when applicants miss out on job interviews.
Joshi, the gram Pradhan of his village, said numerous complaints have been made to the superintendent of the Pithoragarh general post office, but to no avail.
"A registered letter takes at least 10 days to reach. When our Aadhaar cards were made, our postal address on the cards came incorrectly as PO, Bhasiachanna. Then it was corrected and sent to Ganai PO in Pithoragarh. However, no postman comes to deliver letters from Ganai. As a result, many residents of our village have not yet received the cards," he said.
The villages are all about 60 km from Almora and 130 km from Pithoragarh town. The other affected villages are Naili, Bhanoli Sera, Basera, Chaunapautal, Sartola and Niuliya Sera in Seraghat region.
Villagers say they have appealed to Almora MP Ajay Tamta too to resolve this matter. "He pursued the matter and asked the superintendent of Pithoragarh to solve it. A survey was conducted by Berinag post office some months back, but there has been no update since," says Joshi.
Narayan Singh Duwal, gram pradhan of Sartola village, however, said no survey was conducted in his village. "We heard that some postmen had come to other villages to conduct a survey. But no one came to our village for a survey." Duwal said that residents of Sartola often have to travel to Ganai PO to collect their Aadhaar cards since no postman ever came to their village.
Superintendent of Almora GPO SK Kandwal told TOI that he had recently taken up charge of Pithoragarh GPO and was still to apprise himself of matters there. "We haven't received any survey report. We will be able to comment only when we receive it," he said.