Good news: You’ll soon get parcels from abroad a lot quicker

BENGALURU: The delivery of your international parcels will now be faster. Beginning Monday (August 5), all parcels booked within Karnataka, will get Customs clearances from the General Post Office in the city, thereby reducing the time taken for deliveries by four to six days. Only the five post offices at New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Kochi were equipped with this facility. 

The Post Master General of Bengaluru Postal Circle Colonel Aravind Verma told The New Indian Express, “We will set up an Office of Exchange in the existing Sub Foreign Post Office section. Customs officers will work along with the postal staff. This will ensure clearances to dispatch the parcels are provided at our office only.”

Parcels booked across Karnataka are sent to the GPO. “We send most of our international parcels to Mumbai for the clearance, before they are dispatched abroad and a few to Kochi or Chennai if the foreign country is closer to those cities. Clearing it in Bengaluru will definitely reduce the dispatch time and the customer’s parcel will reach 4 to 6 days earlier than in the past,” Col Verma said. 

Since the office in Mumbai is crowded with parcels from many parts of the country, some parcels usually get delayed. The existing Sub Foreign Post Office, located behind the GPO, has the facility to clear incoming international mail as on date but not outgoing ones. “The OoE will be a major upgradation for the office here,” he said.

The GPO presently has an average booking of 1,000 consignments for foreign countries per day.  The Postal Circle also has plans to shift the existing FPO, which is in a cramped location, to Chamarajpet shortly where a new building is coming up.