Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had a word of advice for
Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. Taking note of the number of questions
that MPs had for the Minister, especially about postal services and post
offices, she told the Minister, “A lot of people want to raise questions
on the issues. You should pay more attention to the postal department.”
The Minister on his part announced that the government had decided to open 80 Gramin Dak Sewa Post Offices and 80 sub post offices in the country under Rural Business and Access to Postal Network scheme.
The Prime Minister
spent about one-and-a half–hours on the postal department:
Proper digital connectivity of all post offices in the
country is top priority for the Government, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar
Prasad told the Lok Sabha here on Monday.
Replying to questions related to his Ministry, Prasad said
the Prime Minister was personally monitoring a host of departments and postal
services were one of them.
“The Prime Minister spent about one-and-a half–hours on the
postal department and has given suggestions, which will be considered,” he
said, in reply to a query by Biju Janata Dal’s Tathagata Satapathy on the
status of the banking licence applied for by the postal department.Prasad said
there was need for reforms in postal reforms as also upgradation of Grameen Dak
Ghar Services, catering to the rural population.