Residents of certain sections of Battaramulla, within the new capital of Sri Lanka, Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte, have not received their postal mail for the past one week or more.

The mainly affected area is roads and by-roads adjoining Subuthipura where the main post office is located and Udumulla, Kottegewatte Road etc.

Residents who have checked with the post office personally are told that the particular postman or postmen delivering the mail to these areas has not reported for duty and hence mail could not be delivered.

The most affected by this lethargy are the small scale businesses and the self-employed who receive their cheques through registered as well as ordinary post.

On further inquiry, and when questions whether there are no relief persons to deliver the mail were raised, the officials at the Battaramulla post office said that there is a severe shortage of staff at this particular office and though over the years many government institutions have been relocated to within the area, the number of staff remains at the same level as during the past and hence the workload has increased immensely.

Added to these woes are their already existing salary anomalies, overtime issues etc still to be resolved, they claimed.

Since their compulsory overtime is limited to 240 hours per month, payment is refused for any excess overtime and hence the backlog continues to increase, they claimed. They also alleged that certain delivery personnel are being used by higher officials for their personal errands and thus they delay the mail deliveries.