For those who have to pay property tax arrears to the
Coimbatore Corporation, the local body sent the reminder through the
India Post’s ePost service this year.

About 5,000
mails were sent by the Corporation through the ePost last month. An
official of the Department of Posts said that the department has tied-up
with Coimbatore Corporation to send messages to the public regarding
payment of water tax and property tax.

The facility was available at all its computerised post offices.

The
sender would have to send a message by e-mail and this would be sent to
the respective post office and hand-delivered to the recipient.

In the case of corporate companies, the service can be used to send statements, announcements, etc.

They
can enrol their name as an ePost Corporate customer and use the log in
identity allotted to book ePost messages from their computer.

The ePost message would be uploaded with it and would reach the respective post office within minutes.

A print out would be taken and delivered by the postman.

The customer can see the number of messages booked, messages printed, and the charges incurred from his log in account.

Though
this service was being used by some customers in Coimbatore, the
Corporation has used it to reach out to a large number of people.

An
official of the Corporation said that the cost of sending the reminders
through the ePost was lesser. The status of delivery of the ePost to
the recipient is also available for the corporation, hence claims of
non-receipt was not possible.

The facility was used
for the first time here and only for property tax arrears and depending
on the response, it would be continued.