Friday 24 August 2012

Eastern Court Post Office


Shri Nathji  would  frequently go the Eastern Court Post Office at Janpath to send telegrams to his devotees, blessing them on various occasions of births, marriages, etc. Unfortunately this post office closed in 2004.
Operating from the Lutyens’ colonnaded architectural masterpiece and for decades maintaining connectivity between the ‘Jewel in the Crown’ and the rest of the Empire, the post office in Eastern Court has disappeared from the face of the earth. The bifurcation of the “Post” and the “Telegraph” departments in 1972-73 and the provison that the post offices must become self-sufficient by 2007 or close shop has led to the closure of several posts offices within the National Capital Territory. The case of Eastern Court was particularly pathetic: It could not fork up to the Department of Telegraphs a monthly rental of Rs 5 lakh for the premises it was occupying in the northern portion of the complex on Janpath as its income from the sale of stamps, stationery and postal services amounted to only half that. So the Department of Posts cut its losses and shifted its operations to the central circle in M Block in Connaught Place. The other post office which Shri Nathji used most frequently was the Safdarjung Airport Post Office. This post office still stands in its original location near Safdarjung Bus Depo.

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