LAHORE, June 14: The Pakistan post office is planning to introduce a new express service having an internet-based track and trace facility, allowing people to check the status of their posted articles through a website.

It is also introducing a new service in Karachi from Friday (today), offering people to deposit their utility bills through postmen as against nominal charges. It would be extended to other major cities in the country afterwards.

The initiatives are part of an overall plan to modernise the traditional postal service and give it a corporate look, Punjab Postmaster General Mohammad Ahmed Mian told Dawn here on Thursday.

He said the track and trace facility would be new in the country and give the postal service an edge over the private couriers. The rates of the express postal service would be lower than being charged by private companies, he said.

According to him, the decision to synchronise the public sector postal service with the modern corporate requirements, was taken at the federal level, and the concept was launched by the federal communication minister on June 7.

The postal service was offering its urgent mail service at 36 locations which would be increased to 80 under the new plan. The existing service was not giving the desired results due to some major loopholes that would be removed now, he said.

The department would go for marketing, create private sector like working conditions at the centres to attract clientele, recruit computer literate staff with some incentives, and extensively use air service for transmission of post rather than overwhelming dependence on the railway department which had its own problems.

When asked about the bill collection facility, he said people intending to avail it needed to just telephone at the postal office’s universal access number (UAN). In response postmen would collect the bills along with bank cheques for payment as against a fee of Rs20 per bill.

The fee was nominal and the facility would save people of Karachi from the hassle of paying bills personally in banks or post offices, Mr Ahmed Mian said, clarifying the facility was only for Sui gas and PTCL bills.

According to him, the department had upgraded its major centres in the country. In Lahore these had been upgraded in nine locations in addition to the General Post Office, improving not only the buildings but also deputing efficient staff there.

“The postal service does not handle letters alone. It is a state department rendering service to people in many areas like renewing arms and driving licences, and collecting utility bills from 9am to 9pm,” he said.

Ahmed Mian did not agree that people had stopped posting letters in view of the availability of internet and mobile telephone services. The post office was still collecting its 40 per cent revenue from letters which were sent to even Siachin.

“We are subsidising the mail service merely because we take it as a national duty. Half of our centres are incurring losses but we are not closing them only for providing a vast postal network to people,” he said.