Postal services have become frustrating over the years, as post offices run short of forms and applications.

"We are disappointed by the services of the post offices. When we go there for money order, postal workers tell us to make photocopies of forms to fill them in," said Akhter Jahan, who went to Tejgaon Post Office to send some money to her medical student daughter in Mymensingh.

An official at Bangladesh Postal Department (BPD) blamed the shortage of forms and applications on its rundown printing press that cannot cope with high demand.

The post offices need more than 50,000 forms, including money order forms and savings certificates, a day.

"Also, every day we need 40,000 pages of different printed materials to run our offices. The only printing press of the department, more than 24 years old, cannot supply necessary materials in time," he said.

"The situation has become so serious that we cannot do our daily work. It is hard to provide better service for people," another BPD official said on condition of anonymity.

BPD Director General SM Abdus Salam said: "This problem is not new to us. The output capacity of our press has decreased seriously over the

years. We are trying to solve the problem."

Bangladesh has 9,848 post offices, including four general post offices (GPOs), 21 first class main post offices and 45 second class main post offices.

There are also 401 post offices in upazilas, 930 divi-

sional sub-post offices, 11 divisional branch post offices, 323 non-divisional sub-post offices and 8,113 non-divisional post offices.

Bangladesh Government Press, known as BG press, had printed official forms and materials for the BPD for long. "When our demand increased and the

BG press started to print forms and papers of other government offices, the postal department set up its own press in Tejgaon in 1980," he said.

The press was kicked off with only four printing machines, which could print only monocolour materials. To cope up with the increasing demand, the BPD set up three more machines.

"The BG press still printed forms for the BPD on an emergency basis, but it has now become hard to get its help because of its heavy workload," the official said.

The BPD press now prints forms and other materials with only two machines, asotherfour machines went out of order three years ago. "It is also understaffed and has no manager or administrator for long.

‘‘Over the last few years, work at post offices has increased a lot. A large number of people have invested money in our savings programme and we cannot provide them with better service," he added.

To fight the crisis, the BPD has recently sent a proposal to the post and telecommunications ministry, asking for a modern press that will cost Tk 9 crore. The BPD director general said: "We are now carrying out a study to find the causes of the shortage and trying to repair the rundown machines. I hope the problem will be solved within a short time.”