Postal department clears backlog of 300,000 letters and parcels

A backlog of around 300,000 letters and parcels, which had piled up due to the travel restrictions, are now being cleared by the postal department, a senior official said.

With the Central Mail Exchange (CME) functioning as usual, the backlog was more at a provincial level, Post Master General, Ranjith Ariyaratne said.

Asked whether maintaining physical distancing at the CME under Covid-19 guidelines was delaying sorting of letters due to limited staff per shift, he replied, “it’s not a big issue. We are continuing with the job expeditiously”.

Ariyaratne said there was no disruption in outbound foreign mail/parcels despatches despite the travel ban.

(Suresh Perera)