May 12, 2016
Kalaivaraikalai
Pune:
The department of posts has asked its staff to remain vigilant about
suspicious letters after two educational institutes in the city received
threat letters accompanied by detonators over the last few days.
The
department of posts has told its staff to be more alert and remain
vigilant about suspicious mails after two back-to-back incidents wherein
the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and Pune university's
department of communication and journalism at Ranade Institute received
threat letters accompanied by a detonator in last few days.
The
letters, sent to the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and
Savitribai Phule Pune University's department of communication and
journalism at Ranade Institute, warned both institutions not to invite
student leader Kanhaiya Kumar to their campus.
Staff members of the postal department are expected to alert higher authorities if they notice any mail that looks suspicious.
Senior
officials said that although the staff cannot open mails, there is a
general instruction to remain more alert while handling the post.
A
suspicious mail can be of any nature, such as a letter without a proper
address of the sender, without postal stamps, or mail packed in an
envelope in specific colour, among others. Senior officials will now pay
more attention to such letters.
Officials
in the department however said it is a difficult task to keep track of
every letter received and dispatched from post offices. At present, the
department asks for an identify proof of a sender in case of parcel
booking or registered post. However, there is no such provision for
ordinary mail. Anyone can drop a letter in a post-box. The letter is
collected from the box and sent ahead for dispatching. As of now, there
is no provision to scan the letters before dispatch.
"Over
a lakh letters are handled everyday across various post offices in Pune
alone. The department is expected to collect or dispatch a post at a
given address. The quantum is so huge that it is very tough to check
each letter. Even so, in case of a parcel, it is mandatory for a sender
to seal a post in the presence of the postal staff," an official said.
Meanwhile, postal officials said on Tuesday that they were cooperating with the police in the investigations in the letters and detonators sent to the two institutes. Preliminary observations by the police department has revealed that the letters were sent through ordinary post. The contents of the envelopes were similar a live detonator, some yellow powder and a letter.
Source: timesofindia
