Govt to transform 8,500 post offices into e-centres

The government has taken an initiative to turn 8000 rural and 500 upazilla post offices into 'Post E-Centre for Rural Community' aimed at reaching information and communication technology service to the people living there, officials said.

The move has been taken mainly to provide internet and information technology services through the post offices of the Bangladesh Post Office (BPO) to the country's remote areas especially rural areas, they said.

Besides, another purpose is to reach the Bangladesh migrants' hard-earned money to their near and dear ones in a short span of time and lower service charges, a high official of the BPO said.   

The fact is "we are seriously working on the issue. Our main and major intention is to provide ICT to 8500 rural post offices to improve the services for rural community," he said.

The government has taken a project -- Post E-Centre for Rural Community -- to turn over 8,000 rural post offices and 500 upazila post offices into e-centres across the country, according to the Post, Telecommunications and ICT Ministry.

The entire project may cost around Tk 5.41 billion, which will be implemented by December, 2015 with government fund, the ministry data showed.

"It was supposed to introduce the E-Centre in 1000 post offices primarily. The decision was taken at the meeting of the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC), the data said.

Presently, procedure to introduce E-centre in 400 post offices is going on in full swing, sources said.   

The government supplied hardware to 183 post offices including 80 upazila post offices, while 173 post offices have been providing services on test basis, they said.

"Rural people will get computer compose, print, internet browsing, scanning, image, speaking online and video conferencing facilities through the project," they added.

The project has been formulated by BPO for establishing Post e-centre at each of the 8500 rural post offices across the country, a BPO official said.

The project aims at bridging digital divide between the rural and urban people of the country by enabling them to have access to modern ICT based technologies. This project can be considered as an important milestone in achieving the 'Vision-2021' of the present government, he observed.