No. R-III/25/8/2011 Dated 16-11-11

To

Secretary (Posts) Department of Posts, Dak Bhawan, New Delhi-110116

Subject:-Closure of Margao RMS .

Respected Madam,

It has been intimated by he Circle Secretary Maharastra Circle that CPMG Maharastra has ordered the closure of Margao RMS.

Margao RMS is handling more than 30,000 letter mails per day and following staff is working there :-

Sorting Assistant 9

Mail Man 5

Mail Guard 2

GDS 6

We would also like to remind that there is agreement between the Official Side and Staff Side that mail offices having more than 10,000 mails in a day will not be merged/closed.

It was also reiterated vide Directorate letter No. 8-1/2007-SR dated 20^th April, 2007 that the mail offices will be rationalized in accordance with agreement reached with the Federation. In the meeting with Staff Side and Secretary (Posts) on the Charter of Demands on 30-11-2009 it was agreed that status quo as on 30-11-2009 will be maintained and no office will be merged/abolished without taking the Staff Side into confidence. Minutes of this meeting were issued on 1-12-2009 vide Directorate letter No. 8-11/2009-SR Dated 1^st December, 2009. It was also agreed that staff will not be disturbed and in emergent case their option will be obtained.

Purpose of starting Margao RMS: Since the RMS office is situated at the Railway Station the Outward mails were received and sorted at Margao RMS, this included sorting of first class and second class mails, registration work , parcel work and mail exchange. Margao RMS provides 24 Hour Speed Post service to the public, further it also runs a counter whereby other postal services like registration of articles, sale of stamps is also provided. Panaji Stg. which was earlier functioning in the Panaji city in rented premises was shifted to Alto Porvorim postal quarters. These postal quarters were cramped and it was difficult to carry out all the mail functions and therefore the Panaji Stg. at Alto Porvorim was identified as Outward Mail Office, where the registration and parcel work was done as well as it is also a National Speed Post Hub Centre and Margao RMS was identified as Inward Sorting Office for surface mails and inward EPP mails for Goa state received in connection with BM-1-IN, Q-1-Out, and BM-6-Out sections and closing ‘L’/EPP bags for all Post offices in Goa State. The quantum of mails at Margao RMS is on an average about 30000 papermail per day and EPP varying from 100 to more than 400 articles. The very purpose of distinguishing the above mails is lost by discontinuing the main work of sorting mails at Margao RMS by taking all the work to Panaji Stg at Alto Porvorim, again leading to congestion of mails inconveniencing the staff due to lack of space.

Effect on the Staff: The staff and their families feel totally uprooted due to the above decision, most affected are the ladies staff who have to travel all the way to Alto Porvorim which is about 50 kms from the residences of the staff who stay in the interiors of Margao. To reach Alto Porvorim 4 buses have to be taken ( first the city bus to the city, then bus to KTC(state transport) bus stop, then bus to Panaji (for which there is a long queue for tickets) and then again one more bus from Panaji to Alto Porvorim). The procedure is repeated while returning back. Under such circumstances how are the ladies, having school going children at home to manage both work and family, since the duties in the RMS Office are not fixed and also the weekly offs are not fixed, due to this the ladies are at present feeling mentally harassed. Further the cost of traveling would make a hole in the pockets.

We would request you to please honour the agreements which are reached after discussions and deliberations with than Secretary (Posts) and your goodself and advise CPMG Maharstra to withdraw the orders on closure of Margao RMS otherwise we would have to think twice before reaching any agreement with the Department

With regards.

Yours sincerely,

(Giri Raj Singh)
General Secretary