Haflong residents renew plea for improved postal services, ask for Head Post Office upgrade

 Haflong, May 15: Residents of Dima Hasao district  resubmitted a petition to the Chief Postmaster General, Guwahati, highlighting persistent service failures at the Haflong Sub Post Office and demanding its upgrade to a full Head Post Office. The petition was received by Superintendent of Post Offices, Cachar Division during their visit to Haflong on Thursday.

The representation, framed as a follow-up to an earlier complaint dated 3 March 2022, was signed by community members including Golon Daulagupu, Syamol Kanti Dey and Ganesh Jaishi. It lists long-standing grievances that residents say undermine postal and postal-banking access in the district.

“Although a Citizens’ Charter is displayed at the Haflong Sub Post Office, officials consistently fail to meet the prescribed timelines for services,” the letter states. According to the petitioners, mail and parcels addressed to Haflong are routinely routed through Silchar Head Post Office, causing frequent delays despite good road connectivity between Guwahati and Haflong.

Key complaints raised in the petition include:

- Delayed delivery of parcels, letters and Speed Post items.

- Shortage or unavailability of passbooks, deposit forms and other essentials.

- Post office being inaccessible during urgent needs, preventing timely dispatch of documents to institutions and offices.

- Delayed payments (often 10–12 days) for matured Savings and Recurring Deposits, National Savings Certificates and Kisan Vikas Patra because of necessary clearances from Silchar.

- Chronic staff shortages at the Haflong Sub Post Office.

Residents have proposed several corrective measures: immediate upgrade of the Haflong Sub Post Office to a Head Post Office; provision of major postal and postal-banking services locally; designation of the Haflong office as a single-point service hub for the entire Dima Hasao district; and the introduction of robust digital services to minimize customer harassment. The petition also calls for reliable delivery of mail, money transfer, banking, insurance and retail services on a value-for-money basis.

“This is a repeated plea for urgent redressal,” the petition says, urging the postal authorities to take immediate action to resolve the long-standing problems that affect everyday users, students and pensioners alike.

Local residents say an upgrade and digitisation of services would reduce delays and improve access to crucial financial services for the geographically isolated district. Journalists and community leaders are calling on postal authorities to provide a timeline for reforms and staffing improvements to ensure uninterrupted postal and banking services in Dima Hasao.