Kathmandu. Minister for Information and Communications, Dr Bikram Timilsina, has said the postal service has been reestablished as a modern, credible and citizen-friendly means of reaching the government services to the doorsteps of the citizens.

He said the government has successfully implemented the campaign of providing government services to the doorsteps of the citizens by developing the traditional postal service as a technology-friendly and specialized courier service.

Minister for Communications and Information Technology Dr. Pramod Kumar Shrestha organized a high-level dialogue programme on modernization of postal services organized by the Department of Postal Services. Stating that the government was moving ahead in a planned manner for the revitalization of the postal service, he said positive results have already started to be seen. He said although the form of postal service has changed with the expansion of information technology sector, its need and importance still remains.

“Digitization has not diminished the importance of postal services. Instead, the need to expand service by modernizing it as per the need of time has increased,” said Minister Timilsina.

Saying collaboration between public and private sector was essential for increasing the effectiveness of government services, he stressed the need of partnership with the private sector and effective coordination among the government bodies since the government alone could not do all the works in isolation. Likewise, he stressed the need of willpower, innovative thinking and service-oriented working style of the postal service to improve the deteriorating institutional image of the postal service.

“The post office should be able to change itself and serve in a different way. The first basis for reform is the will within the organization. “The postal service should be made simple, easy and specialized as it is directly related to the daily life of the citizens,” he said.

The provision of delivering government documents like passport, driving license and other documents to the doorstep of the citizens has brought a big change in service delivery, he said, reducing the time, cost and hassle of the citizens as well as increasing the trust towards the government services. Minister for Communications and Information Technology Dr Timilsina said the postal service was credible even in view of security.

Stating that the government was moving towards making public service delivery effective by optimally utilizing limited resources, he said that notable progress has been made in the works of the Ministry of Communications and its subordinate bodies under the 100-day agenda of governance reforms.

Similarly, Secretary at the Ministry of Communications, Laxmi Kumari Basnet shared that the Department has already signed agreement with seven government agencies to provide government services at the doorstep of the citizens.

“Government documents including passport, driving license, educational certificate, health check-up report and other documents are being delivered to the doorstep of the household. The ministry is working to make it more effective, professional and citizen-friendly in the days to come,” he said.

Director General of the Department of Postal Services, Manmaya Bhattarai Pangeni, shared that the campaign of making the postal service more effective by internalizing the international good practices has been put in place. Stating that citizen-centric service delivery has been prioritized through the ‘doorstep postal, postal in mind’ campaign, he said positive response has been received from the citizens after receiving government documents at the doorstep.

According to him, the progress of the ‘Government Courier Service’ operated by the Department with the objective of providing government services at the doorsteps of the citizens is encouraging. With the implementation of various programmes of institutional reform and making the Department technology-friendly, passport, driving license, health materials, educational certificates and other government documents are being safely transported to the doorsteps of the citizens.

Clause no 27 of the 100-day agenda on governance reforms unveiled after the formation of the new government has provisions for delivering a copy of passport, citizenship, driving license and other documents at the doorstep of the government.

Similarly, a campaign has been forwarded to gradually transform the post offices across the country into ‘smart posts’ as per the government’s annual policy and programme and budget statement for the coming fiscal year.

According to the Department, the government is implementing a policy to transform the postal service limited to the exchange of traditional letters into a modern ‘government courier service’. Under this, the scope of services providing passport, driving license, educational certificate, health materials and other government documents at the doorstep of the citizens is gradually expanding, the Department said.