India’s Department of Posts plans to harness solar power at its offices

The Department of Posts has planned to harness solar power by launching a project at its headquarters in Delhi and plans to expand it to its buildings spread across the country, a top official said today.

“We are examining the process of harnessing roof-top solar energy. To start, we are looking whether it can be done from our headquarters in Delhi with 160 kw solar power plant.

“If it succeeds, we have around 4000 departmental buildings across the country and we would like to slowly spread to all of them,” Department of Posts Secretary B V Sudhakar said.

He said the department is also examining the scope of online recruitment for Grameen Dak Sevaks as there are 55,000 vacancies across India.

“The software is under testing and the candidates can apply online. The idea is to bring in transparency and expedite the process of recruitment. It will be a major step in the recruitment process of postal department. By November, we shall use that application,” he said.

Sudhakar further said the department is looking at achieving total revenue of Rs 13,800 crore for the current fiscal as against Rs 12,900 crore in 2015-16, adding, “There was a fiscal deficit of about Rs 6,000 crore. We will be emphasizing on e-commerce and new e-technology based products to cover up the deficit.”

The Department is emphasizing on e-commerce. “On e-commerce, we got revenue of Rs 300 crore last year and this year we are looking at Rs 400 crore. We want to give good impetus to this and bring in customer-friendly services using technology,” Sudhakar said.

On India Post Payments Bank (IPPB), which was incorporated last month, Sudhakar said nominee directors are in place and the process is underway for appointment of independent directors.

“The total investment in the India Post Payments Bank is Rs 800 crore. Out of this, Rs 400 crore is equity, while the remaining amount is grant. IPPB target is that by May 2017 we should be able to open few branches and then 650 branches by September 2017. The idea is to facilitate financial inclusion and ensure DBT payments seamlessly,” he added.

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