A decision has
been taken to shut down the
philatelic bureau in Goa from July 12. This bureau which operates from the head
post office in Panjim has now been reduced to a counter which will retail
stamps. This follows an order from the philately division of the department of
posts, New Delhi, in which a total of 31 such bureaus across the country are
being shut down. This has caused much comment amongst philatelists in the
state.
Dr Sudhir Jakhere, Senior Superintendent of Post Offices, Goa
division said the philately bureau was a place where they do the sale of stamps
and other philatelic ancillaries to all the people who have booked under post
depository accounts (PDA). The government of India had taken a decision to
restructure the philately department because there were many departments who
were not able to serve the people because of an overload of work and in some
cases way too much stock of stamps which were not being sold.
In some cases he said there were not many PDA accounts or sales
to philatelists. In the Maharashtra circle which includes Goa, there were 7
philatelist bureaus. Apart from Mumbai and Pune all the centers have been
closed. He said “Nasik, Aurangabad, Nagpur and Panaji have been shut. In Panaji
we have a problem. We only have 130 PDA accounts but even if it closed, there
will be a philately counter to take care of all the philatelic needs of the
philatelists present in Goa.
All the PD accounts will be shifted to Mumbai and from there it
will be serviced”. Anyone who placed an order in Goa would be serviced. When a
new stamp is released, a new cover with a special cancellation is realised,
that he conceded would not be possible now. He however said he would be writing
to his circle office to give another permanent cancellation of the first day
issue. That he said would be made available. The counter services will be
available and any tourist interested in buying stamps will be able to buy
because stock will be maintained. Anyone who had special requirements will be
ordered from the bureau. He felt it would not make much of a difference to the
people.
Specials cover like
the one to honour Mario Miranda, special cancellations, special philatelic
ancillary like a philatelic passport which was released for the first time
regarding the various activities that were being organized would continue. He
said apart from the 130 PDA there was a lot of retail sale that took place.
He however pointed
out that most of the philatelists in Goa were elderly, the footfall was
generally less. 7 covers were released with several cancellations of Covid 19
which made Goa one of the leading centres in the country. Special picture
postcards were also being released about Goans avian diversity. Two were
already released and more were in the pipeline.
In the month of
October, the department intended to launch Indo-Portuguese stamps in a series
called the Natives of India. Now all their interest was on the diamond jubilee
celebration of Goa Liberation. The CM was in the loop, he said and he had
agreed to release a special stamp and a special cover. It had already been
approved by the CM and it would be in place by December19. The cost of the
stamp had not been decided as yet but he said it would be very reasonable. The
design work was now going on and plans were also afoot for a virtual exhibition.
The exhibition which
involved all the districts of the state would now be conducted virtually during
the months of either November or December. The theme would be India-75 and
Goa’s liberation would also be highlighted. He called on philatelists to come
up with ideas and their main focus was highlighting Goa’s culture and heritage.
He wanted ideas for special covers and cancellations. Plans were now afoot to
release stamps on the GI indicators. In the past he said the people had
responded very enthusiastically when they had sought suggestions. He said Goa
was the philatelic hub of the country. For the first time, they released three
cancelations of three different colours, golden, silver and copper.
No one in the world
had ever released silver and copper cancellations. Goa was also the first to
send a cover to Antarctica during the latest mission. It was a silver
cancellation card. When asked how he intended to increase the number of PDA in
the state and importantly have younger people get interested in it he said they
used to hold workshops which were not possible now due to covid. They conduct
live as well as virtual workshops as well as various quiz competitions. The
exhibition will have a section for children. They give them presentations on
how to analyze a stamp, the anatomy of a stamp. They also organize a letter
writing competition to inculcate the habit of letter writing.
But for every
viewpoint there could be one to counter it. Dr MR Rajesh Kumar retired Chief
Scientist from the National Institute of Oceanography Goa expressed his shock
at this development. He said to increase the number of philatelists in Goa,
they were conducting workshops in various schools all over the state.
However the Covid
pandemic had put paid to their plans. He said it was one of the best activities
to indulge in because it made you sit in one place and read and learn new
things, arrange them. Individuals he said had gone to schools and left behind
packets with stamps to encourage interests. He said the department should
consider Goa as a separate state and not as part of the Maharashtra circle.
This move he said was an insult to the people of Goa and this move to transfer
their accounts to Mumbai was a bad move.
He said “It is a very
bad thing. We cannot go shopping for stamps. As the President of the
association, I feel bad. We had a close cooperation with the department and we
did a lot of work together in the past. In the last one year itself we had
several Covid 19 cancellations done with the department. The association did
two important cancellations, one on plasma therapy and the second on mental
health. This was done by us.
We also want to make
pilot taxis which are unique to Goa. We also wanted to bring out special covers
on Mario Miranda. Nothing has been done on that front. I wanted a stamp. That
is asking too much. I want one on Julio Menezes, noted freedom fighter. I
wanted to do so much on Goa’s cultural heritage. Now it all remains to be seen
how it pans out.”
Requests
have been made to reconsider this move but it remains to be seen if anything
comes out of it.