BENGALURU: A boost to quicker incoming and outgoing international mail will now be feasible, thanks to an exclusive Foreign Post Office (FPO) which was opened on Thursday evening at Chamarajpet at the renovated post office at Raghavendra Colony. The FPO was functioning in the General Post Office earlier.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Post Master General, Karnataka Circle, Charles Lobo said that time taken for despatch or arrival of international mail will now be halved. “Mail to foreign countries had to be routed from Bengaluru to the airports of any of the gateways at Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi or Chennai, depending on the geographic location of the country. Henceforth, mail will be despatched directly from Bengaluru airport to different countries,” he said.
Tracing the origin of the international mail centre in the city, Lobo said that it was first set up in 1967 on Miller’s Road. “It was shifted to Race Course Road, then to Musuem Road, where it had a long stint of 10 years. It was later moved to GPO from where it functioned for the last three years. It was on July 19, 2019 that it was upgraded from a sub-post office status to a post office,” he said.
In a boost to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, the companies will be permitted to book export consignments from the FPO, he added.
Post Master General, Bengaluru Region, Colonel Arvind Varma said the increased volume of mail handling at GPO, along with export parcels, resulted in inadequate space and so the decision to shift it to a separate location was taken.