Serving dangerously

The unnervingly uninviting building appears to be abandoned. But this is a fully functional facility of Boromchal post office in Kulaura upazila.

Not too many service seekers now feel safe to go to the post office that offers them the sight of fallen plasters from walls and ceilings with exposed iron rods.

Cracks visible on beams in the ceilings as well as on columns in the walls and rust on metal windows and grilles in every room of the structure are a sad testimony of neglect and disregard for safety of citizens. For a visitor, it becomes very disconcerting when water starts seeping through its ceilings during rain. 

Many such dilapidated buildings of the post office had never been repaired since those were constructed before the country’s independence, said sources at the post office. 

Monir Mia, a Boromchal resident, said rural people from the area could benefit greatly from services provided at the “E-Centre” of the post office.

The services include internet browsing, foreign remittance transfer services, mobile financial services, agent banking services, video conferencing, online submission of admission applications at colleges and universities, computer compose, scanning, copying and printing services, payments of government social security allowances, and information on various government services including agriculture, education and health.

But the rundown building is keeping them from making the best use of the post office, he said.

College student Tanjim Akhtar, from Madhabpur area in Boromchal union, said the E-Centre offers many useful services for people living in localities that do not have access to banking services, high-speed internet or affordable office equipment.

Considering its remote location, the authorities need to urgently replace the building of the Boromchal post office with a new one.    

Amin Ali, sub-postmaster of Boromchal post office, said the old building is beyond repair and the higher authorities were informed of it on various occasions.

Now the locals are afraid to come inside the dilapidated structure, he said, adding that a new building needs to be constructed in its place urgently.  

Contacted, Mohammad Mozammel Haque, deputy post master general in Sylhet division, said the process of constructing a new building for Boromchal post office was underway.