Work stoppage disrupts postal service in 21 districts
Tens of thousands of letters including important documents remained undelivered in 2510 rural post offices under Khulna Circle of Bangladesh Postal Department as over 7000 'extra departmental' (ED) employees have been on a 10-day work stoppage since October 10 to press home their nine-point demand.
The undelivered letters include court notices, letters asking newly appointed persons to join their services or candidates to appear at job interviews, urgent notices regarding bank loan affairs and matters relating to life insurance etc, said Harun-ar-Rashid, deputy postmaster general (DPMG) of Khulna Circle.
Work stoppage by ED employees is badly disturbing postal service in 21 districts under Khulna Circle of Bangladesh Postal Department while rural people are worst affected due to the situation, he said.
There are 2,510 post offices in 10 districts of Khulna division, six districts of Barisal division and five districts of greater Faridpur region under Khulna Circle of Bangladesh Postal Department.
The nine-point demand of the said employees include raising of their monthly salary from Tk 1,010 to Tk 4,500, festival bonus, providing uniform of postal department, introduction of rationing system and special leave for them, more recruitment in rural post offices, reservation of quotas for the ED employees there.
"It is not at all possible to maintain a family with such a meagre salary while prices of essentials are gradually soaring up," said Shurja Kanta Halder, chief adviser of the Khulna Circle unit of Postal Extra Departmental Employees' Union that called the work stoppage.
"Our movement will be intensified if all the demands are not met by October 20. Postal ED employees no more want to sell their manual labour at such a miserably cheap rate," he said.
Md Mizanur Rahman, president of Khulna district unit of Postal ED Employees Union, also echoed the same.
Meanwhile, Postmaster General of Khulna Circle Md Abdur Rashid claimed that work stoppage by the ED employees has not much affected the normal works at rural post offices in 21 districts of south-western and greater Faridpur regions.
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