This story is from February 13, 2019

Chaina turns China, Punjab parcel reaches Beijing

Chaina in Jaito tehsil, Faridkot, was mistaken as China, the post office said in its reply to the notice issued by District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum on the complaint of Balwinder Kaur, a resident of Manimajra. The parcel kept moving from Chandigarh and Delhi and was in China from Jan 19, 2018, to Jan 27, 2018. Kaur got it back on Jan 31, 2018.
Chaina turns China, Punjab parcel reaches Beijing
Picture used for representational purpose only
Key Highlights
  • Chaina in Jaito tehsil, Faridkot, was mistaken as China, the post office said in its reply to the notice issued by District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum on the complaint of Balwinder Kaur, a resident of New Darshani Bagh, Manimajra
  • The parcel kept moving from Chandigarh and Delhi and was in China from January 19, 2018, to January 27, 2018. Finally, Kaur got it back on January 31, 2018
CHANDIGARH: A parcel containing blood pressure medicines sent by a woman to her mother in a Punjab village landed up in China in a blunder of the Sector 17 general post office that is going to cost it Rs 5,000.
Chaina in Jaito tehsil, Faridkot, was mistaken as China, the post office said in its reply to the notice issued by District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum on the complaint of Balwinder Kaur, a resident of New Darshani Bagh, Manimajra.
“On tracking the consignment number through Internet, I was surprised to note that the parcel reached Beijing owing to wrong sorting of the staff at the post office and not reading the correct address,” Kaur said. She had sent the parcel through registered post on January 18, 2018, from the Raj Bhawan branch of the post office. The parcel kept moving from Chandigarh and Delhi and was in China from January 19, 2018, to January 27, 2018. Finally, Kaur got it back on January 31, 2018.
In their defence, the authorities said the central government or its postal officers are exempted from any liability for loss, mis-delivery of delay or damage to any postal article in course of transmission by post as per Section 6 of Indian Post Office Act.
‘Delivery Chaina’ caused confusion
The authorities said “after writing the complete address, Kaur again wrote the words, “delivery Chaina”, creating the confusion. They denied there was any deficiency in service or unfair trade practice on their part, a line of argument the forum did not buy.
“Instead of apologising for its mistake despite admitting the parcel was sent to a wrong destination, the post office is blaming the complainant, saying she deliberately added the last lines/words for reasons best known to her,” the forum said. “Post office officials have shown its negligent and lethargic work culture by taking a plea that due to heavy rush of work, it has become routine for delivery staff to read the last lines of the address in order to deliver articles. It has been confirmed by officials that only after delivering the parcel to the state or the country, further address is to be checked to further rout the parcel for proper delivery.”

The forum further said, “Since officials have accepted the postal article from the complainant on requisite payment, the officials were required to render fault-free and effective services in the shape of delivering the article on time, which they have miserably failed.”
It was held the act of not delivering the parcel at the correct mentioned address and unnecessarily forcing the complainant to indulge in unwarranted litigation amounted to deficiency in service and unfair trade practice, which certainly immense physical and mental harassment to her. They were asked to pay up Rs 5,000.
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