The postman has emerged as a lifesaver with people banking on the postal department to send medicines and other necessary items to their near and dear ones in other districts and states during the lockdown.

Some private couriers have partially started service but more and more people are visiting post offices to book their consignments. At the Ranchi GPO on Friday afternoon, there was a queue of people with masks and maintaining social distance. Almost all of them were carrying medicine boxes.

Some postal employees were assisting people and informing them that they must write “medicine” on the box so that their consignment is delivered on priority.

“It is because private courier companies are not accepting delivery in remote areas and they don’t accept all kinds of consignments. The workload on post offices has increased but it gives a sense of satisfaction that we are serving people during a time of crisis,” said a retired official of the postal department who is also an office-bearer of the all-India association of postal employees.

Abha, a homemaker who lives on Kanke Road, said her father was in Darbhanga district of Bihar and suffering from a life-threatening disease.

“He is surviving on Ayurveda medicine. He was running out of medicine and I was worried about his health since that medicine is not available in his home district. He lives with my mother. My brother is caught in the lockdown in Mumbai. I procured the medicine from Ranchi, but I was not sure how to send it to Darbhanga. I mustered courage and visited the Ranchi GPO. Initially I feared that they would refuse, but to my surprise they booked the consignment and assured that the medicine would be delivered to my father as soon as possible,” she said.

Another person at the counter, Sanjay Kumar, said that he sent batteries for hearing aid to his father and medicines for his mother who is suffering from a heart ailment.

“I am their only son and they live in a remote village of Garhwa. The postal employees assured me that the consignment will be delivered within a week,” said Kumar.

Senior postmaster of Ranchi GPO Sanjay Kumar Gupta has been busy as the volume of consignments has increased multiple times.

“Earlier medicines made up around 10 per cent of the total consignments booked. After the lockdown it has increased by 50 per cent. Medicines are delivered on priority. Postmen and staff who handle such consignments have been given instructions against mishandling to prevent any damage,” said Gupta.

He said that the Ranchi postal zone runs special carriers for Bengal, Bihar and other states.

“Consignments for Bihar are routed through Dhanbad to reach Patna. For Bengal we are running special road transport. For other states we avail service of cargo plane. Due to outbreak of Covid-19 all modes of transportation have been suspended hence there may be delay in the delivery of consignment. We send an SMS to the customer the moment their consignment is booked. They can track the status of their consignment from the link sent in the SMS,” said Gupta.

The postal department is also supplying medicines to hospitals.

“Movement and delivery of medicines are top priority for us. We deliver large quantity of medicines to RIMS and all other hospitals of Jharkhand. Credit goes to down the line staff who work beyond duty hours. They work even at night,” said Gupta.

He said that the postal department is also making payments through Aadhar-enabled payment systems at remote villages.

“During the lockdown period we have also distributed food among the needy,” said a postman at the Ranchi GPO.