National Cleaning Drive of Post Offices

Back Ground Hon. Prime Minister of India has directed to prepare an action plan to transform every government Department into – a citizen centric organization with clear focus on effective delivery of services – with minimum inconvenience to the citizens. One of the action points to achieve the above objective is to make the post office – Spotless – Presentable – Welcoming Deliverable : Perceptible change in our thinking and behavior towards customers

Spotless post office

How to achieve these objectives? Working environment has to be improved to improve the work culture Clean and lean approach should be applied to internal space/office campus A drive to be conducted in all offices to give a business like look to all the offices

How to make your post office SpotLess? Every office has three well defined areas of operation – Public space- public hall, entrance to the office, the front garden etc – Operational area- work table of each official, postmen delivery hall, postmasters chamber, server room, back office. – Facility / Amenities area : washrooms, staircases, lunch/rest rooms, recreation rooms, canteen etc.

Why spotless Office ? It gives a lean and trim appearance The office looks professional. The office gives a welcoming feeling to the customers. It is more pleasant and healthy to work in a spotless office

How to make the office spotless Good house keeping : – Good house keeping means cleanliness, tidiness and much more – There should be a place for everything and everything should be in its place – Ensures that unwanted items are disposed off. – Ensures that the costly resource - space in post office, is used for operation and customer service and not for dumping unwanted items – Ensures that employees remain healthy and energetic.

Front office Public hall should be cleaned from time to time In the public hall only the following 3 boards should be displayed – Citizen charter – Hours of business – Public notice board All signboards, customer writing ledges, chairs and other equipments in the public hall should be dusted Old and outdated notices should be removed One calendar and one clock only is required to be displayed on the wall All signboards displayed in counter hall should be of standard format, clean and legible

Front Office All furniture not conforming to project arrow standard should be removed from the counter hall of PO In other offices uniform furniture only should be kept in the public hall Remove all broken and rickety furniture from the counter hall Customer writing ledge should be cleaned off gum, paper wastes and any other discarded material by the customer at periodical intervals Proper dustbin should be provided in the counter hall and should be cleared at periodical interval

Front Office All the tube lights and fan should be in working condition Fans should be cleaned periodically. The public hall should not have any hanging wires. All loose wires should be cased properly Identify an official to supervise the arrangement on daily basis. – Provide this official with a checklist – Include this responsibility in the memo of duty of the identified official

Remove unwanted notices, banners etc

Spotless entrance to post office The entrance of post office should be made presentable by periodic cleaning All broken pots should be removed. No unwanted furniture/ letter box should be piled at the front side of the post office If space permits, maintain a small garden Garden should be well cared. Office letter box should be well maintained. The time of clearance should be visible, hour plates should be legible and changed as per schedule. Office name board should be in good condition. The standee provided should be displayed in a prominent place in front of the office All hanging wires/ cable should be properly cased.

Welcoming entrance

Post office with badly maintained LBs at the entrance

Spotless back office Back office consists of following areas – Counter operation area – delivery hall – Accounts branch, Sub-accounts branch, SBCO branch etc – Server room – Postmaster’s chamber

Activity Trainees to list out actions to be taken for making their work area spotless on return to their place of work/ office.

Postman delivery Hall Ensure that no unattended letters are left behind by the postman while leaving for the beat Sorting case should be well maintained. Post boxes should be kept in the closed position from inside to avoid loss of letters A proper watch should be kept to ensure periodic clearing of post box by the subscribers No hoarding of undelivered letters, bags in the delivery hall Dust the tables, sorting cases, post boxes daily The post box should be painted at prescribed interval Damaged locks of Post box should be repaired immediately All stamps and seals should be cleaned at periodic interval to get proper and legible stamp impression All letters received / dispatched should be stamped

Properly kept sorting cases in delivery hall

Spotless amenity area The amenity area includes – Wash room – Dining/lunch room – Staircases – Recreation club – Canteen if any

Spotless Wash room Wash room should have provision for uninterrupted water supply Wash room should have sufficient ventilation and lighting Should be provided with exhaust fan There should be a system in place for proper and periodic cleaning of toilets and wash basin. Unbroken and clean buckets / mugs should be kept in the washrooms Cleaning liquids in sufficient quantity should be provided to the cleaning staff

Spotless wash rooms Hand wash/soap should be made available in the wash room All leaking taps should be fixed immediately to avoid wastage of water Wash rooms may be supplied with pedestal waste bins Before leaving washroom, the users should ensure that the area is clean and usable for others Throw rubbish only in the bin provided

Spotless stair cases Do not dump broken furniture/ letter boxes / bags/ broom sticks etc in the stair case. Do not spit on the corners of the staircase wall. May provide spit bucket in places where the habit of chewing tobacco/pan is more prevalent. Clean the stair case also daily. Cleaning of staircase dailycan be included in the job list of cleaning staff

Spotless dining room The lunch room should have proper furniture Lunch room should have proper ventilation The table should be wiped off the remains of food after finishing the meal All used plates and glasses should be washed and kept in the space provided

Spotless recreation club All the equipments in the room should be arranged in pleasing manner After use, the equipments should be placed in their proper place Do not throw around the carom coins, carom powder boxes, chess coins, dumbbells etc around the room Keep the mat folded if not in use. Switch off the TV/ Music system when you leave the room Keep the magazine in the rack provided An almirah or a rack can be provided to the recreation club to keep the items in the recreation room in an orderly way