BENGALURU: Speedy dissemination of letters and parcels is set to take place from March this year as a massive Transshipment Centre in Bengaluru is being readied, said the Chief Postmaster General, Karnataka Postal Circle, Sharda Sampath on Thursday.
Taking part in an event to launch a book 'Buddhism on Stamps' authored by retired IFS officer Logeshwar Rao at the GPO on Thursday, Sampath said, "The Transshipment Centre coming up on three acres of land at Devanahalli is expected to be completed by March end this year. Trucks would exchange the mails here without entering the city thereby saving time and avoiding unnecessary movement." The centre will be housed with all amenities for a rest house for drivers and staff who are working round-the-clock, she added.
This is part of a nationwide road transport network for transportation of parcels by the postal department. "Apart from Bengaluru, such centres are being set up at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Nagpur," she said.
V Tara, Assistant Postmaster General, Business Development, billed the centre as an integrated mail hub. "At present, mail for Karnataka from other states is being taken by the mail vans to the GPO, Peenya Sorting Centre and Railway Mail Service Centre. This would ensure that all the mail vans go directly to the Devanahalli centre and only those that need to be circulated within the city are brought inside by vans."
Rao, who was the former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, said his book was a collection of all postal material related to Buddhism from across the world like stamps, post cards and first day cancellation. "The book running into 300 pages has 22 chapters with colour pictures of different philatelic material from different countries of the world. It can be used as a coffee table book and as a reference book. It is priced at Rs 2,500 and a 10% discount will be offered in the first week alone," he said.