Sale of Gangajal at Coimbatore, Salem, Erode and Dharmapuri head post offices in the region has seen growing demand, according to Sharda Sampath, Postmaster General – Western Region.
Ms. Sampath told The Hindu on Thursday that water from the Ganga at Rishikesh and Gangotri were bottled in Delhi and sold in 200 ml and 500 ml packs across the counter at the four post offices in the region. For those who booked the Gangajal online, it would be delivered directly from Delhi. “We are placing orders for fresh packs every day as the bottles are getting sold on the same day,” she said. One reason for the demand could be because the festival season would start shortly and would be on for about four months. At the All India level, sale of Gangajal through post offices was launched on July 10 at Patna.
Meanwhile, the Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TPDK) on Thursday staged a demonstration in front of the Head Post Office on Goods Shed Road here stating that the BJP Government at the Centre was trying to bring in all forms of saffron activities in the government activities.
In a secular country, selling products that was particular to a specific religion was unacceptable, TPDK general secretary K. Ramakrishnan said. Post offices were common to people belonging to various faith. He wanted to know whether the BJP Government at the Centre was willing to allow sale of articles belonging to other faiths such as Christianity and Islam at the post offices.
Instead, Mr. Ramakrishnan wanted the Union Government to activate Postal Department to make it more competitive with courier services rather than selling religious items. He pointed out that the Gangajal bottles sold in post offices never had the statutorily mandated details such as date of bottling and expiry date.
