Postal staff in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana continue to brave the pandemic

HYDERABAD: The Covid-19 pandemic has left the postal department in two the Telugu states—Telangana and Andhra Pradesh—in a state of shock, with over 100 departmental staff succumbing to the virus, while over 1,000 staff were affected.
Worried that their field-level employees who deal with thousands of dak—such as letters, parcels, speed posts and cash disbursements to lakhs of beneficiaries—and lost their lives in the pandemic, officials of the postal department are working out roadmaps on safety strategies to tackle pandemic going forward.

“A total of 988 Covid cases have been reported in Telangana, of which postal staff recovered in 643 cases and the remaining, 345 are active cases. Till date, 12 departmental staff and another 26 gramin dak sevaks (GDS) died in the pandemic,” S Rajendra Kumar, Telangana chief post master general told TOI.
With regard to Andhra Pradesh, the number of active cases and deaths are much higher. Andhra Pradesh chief PMG M Venkateswarlu said, “A total of 1,210 Covid cases have been reported, of which, 534 cases recovered. We have lost 81 departmental staff and GDS employees.”
The chief PMGs in both states admitted that the death rate and active cases in GDS employees is higher when compared to departmental staff. GDS work in rural areas and also have direct interaction with general people, while rendering postal services such as sale of stamps and stationery, conveyance and delivery of mail, among other duties, which inclued IPPB work in the Departmental Post Offices/RMS and even cash disbursements.
“A SOP of Covid-19 norms to be followed by every postal employee while discharging their duties has been communicated. But lack of awareness cost us many lives, and many were affected,” said S Rajendra Kumar.
Despite the second wave of the virus continuing and lockdown being extended, the dak services in the Telugu states did not get paralysed. “The department has provided sanitizers, face masks and hand gloves to all the field staff delivering the letters, speed post and parcels at the people’s doorsteps,” M Venkateswarlu said.
Apart from these efforts, a massive sanitization drive is being taken up in and outside of all post office buildings to prevent the spread of the virus, Rajendra Kumar added.
Meanwhile, postal department officials have also communicated reports to higher ups of their department in Delhi regarding Covid deaths to quickly get aid for family members of the deceased staff.