Timergara post office a glaring example of apathy

TIMERGARA: The main post office at Timergara has fallen prey to the usual delaying tactics as it could not be upgraded to General Post Office (GPO) even after five years.

The deputy post master general along with Awami National Party (ANP) spokesman and former Senator Zahid Khan announced to upgrade the post office to GPO on October 3, 2014.

Timergara post office takes its visitors to the old age era when the modern technology was not introduced to the world at large. Functioning at a family quarter built by the princely state of Nawab of Dir long before independence, Timergara post office has a broken floor having big holes, which also house fat rats that pose threat to parcels, letters and bills.

Currently, Timergara post office is running without a head, It has only two clerks and a postman, catering to a population of hundreds of thousands.

Decades ago, one postman had been appointed at the post office. Even after more than 35 years, the lone postman is working, dealing with hundreds of schools, colleges, government offices, shopping plazas, etc.

The Head Post Master Muhammad Tahir got his retirement in the first week of September but the government is yet to appoint his replacement.

Officials told this scribe on condition of anonymity that they sent letters to the district administration and district police officer, Lower Dir several times, requesting to provide 24/7 security to the post office, but to no avail. The residents of Dir asked the director general (DG) Pakistan Post Islamabad, post master general (PMG) Peshawar, divisional superintendent Malakand division at Batkhela and other quarters concerned to upgrade Timergara post office to the status of GPO in the larger public interest as soon as possible because the post office deals with utility bills, online bills, VPLs and VPPs worth millions of rupees on a monthly basis and adds profit to the national exchequer.