A record in sending congratulatory e-Post messages

GREAT: N. J. Uthaya Singh, Superintendent of Post offices, displaying congratulatory messages sent to Olympic medallists P. V. Sindhu and Sakshi Malik in Ramanathapuram. —Photo: L. Balachandar

14,626 messages sent to Olympic medallists

When congratulatory messages poured in from all parts of the world for Indian badminton player P. V. Sindhu and wrestler Sakshi Malik after they won medals at the Rio Olympics, the Ramanathapuram Division of India Post quietly walked away with the honour of topping the country in sending the maximum number of congratulatory messages to the duo through e-post.

Soon after the two women brought laurels to the country, the division designed separate messages, imposing their portraits and invited students and the public to send the messages through e-post if they wished and the response was overwhelming.

The division opened a window between August 22 to September 10 for sending the messages and 14,626 people, mostly school and college students, responded.

“We were told this was the largest number of messages sent to the two sports women from a postal division in the country,” N. J. Uthaya Singh, Superintendent of Post Offices, Ramanathapuram division, said. While 7,832 messages were sent to P. V. Sindhu, 6,794 messages were sent to Malik, he said adding the General Post Offices in Hyderabad and Rohtak in Haryana delivered the hard copies of the e-posts to them. Sindhu was obviously too happy to receive so many messages from one postal division as she sent a signed letter through speed post thanking the senders, he said.

“The gift of your wishes means more than anything money can buy. I really appreciate all that you have done and hope this card provides a small token of my gratitude,” Sindhu said in her reply. Her reply cards were sent to all schools and colleges, Mr. Singh said.

While helping people to congratulate the two outstanding women at a cost of Rs. 10 a message, the division earned revenue of Rs. 1.46 lakh.

For the year 2016-17, the division has set a target of sending 3.70 lakh e-posts and has so far sent 1.78 lakh posts.

This included 1,525 messages sent to T. Mariappan, gold medal winner in high jump in Paralympics and 1,028 messages to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday.

Last year, a maximum of 2,900 messages were sent to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on her birthday through e-posts, he added.