Army Postal Corps

HOME » THE ARMY TODAY » ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE » ARMS & SERVICES » ARMY POSTAL SERVICE

ARMY POSTAL SERVICE

Mail Milap

The Army Postal Service (APS) is a unique corps as it comes under dual control. An extension of the Department of Posts, Ministry of Communication, this service is also an integral part of the Army. It provides full-fledged postal services to the troops during war as well as peace. The origin of APS dates back to 1856 when the first Field Post Office (FPO) accompanied the British Expeditionary Forces to Persia. The FPOs continued to be requisitioned by the Army, from the Department of Posts to accompany the Expeditionary Forces till World War I. It was during World War II, that volunteers were drawn from Department of Posts as combatants to run the FPOs. In 1947 when the Indian troops were rushed to Jammu & Kashmir, a handful of volunteers who remained with the occupation forces in Japan were sent to Jammu & Kashmir to provide postal facilities. This group of volunteers were later merged into the present Army Postal Service. Initially, the APS was affiliated to the Army Service Corps (ASC). It was on 01 March 1972, that the APS was turned into an independent corps with its separate and distinct identity.

The APS functions as a part of countrywide postal set-up. Though a part of Army, it also extends its whole range of services to the Rashtriya Rifles, the Indian Air Force, the Indian Navy, the Border Roads Organisation, the Assam Rifles, the Border Security Force, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and the Central Reserve Police Force. It has also been providing excellent postal cover to the troops deployed under UN peace-keeping missions. What the Department of Posts is to civil public, the APS is to Army. Besides, it operates Scheduled Despatch Service (SDS) to convey the official mail within the defence establishments. The corps is known for its high degree of efficiency, promptness and commitment in handling the mail of the Indian Armed Forces. Be it the snow-covered heights of Siachen, the deserts of Thar, the dense forests of North East or the plains of Punjab, this service reaches out everywhere to make the postal service available to the troops. The service conveys the sentiments of the soldiers to their near and dear ones and vice-versa. On an average, over 300,000 articles are handled every day by APS. On average, 4000 telegrams are also handled daily by the APS. The APS Centre is at Kamptee, Maharashtra.

In the sphere of modernisation, the corps is keeping pace with the present age of computerisation. In order to transmit money orders of the troops promptly through satellite, APS has established two high speed V-SAT stations. Seven Extended Satellite Money Order Stations too have started functioning and ten more will be activated during this financial year. Thus, 100% of money orders booked in field post offices will be transmitted over satellite in near future at no extra cost to the jawans. The Savings Bank operation has completely been automated at the Central Base Post Offices of APS. There are 101,468 Savings Bank accounts and 186,834 recurring deposit accounts. The facility of supply and delivery of newspapers and periodicals is also available to the troops through FPOs. During the current financial year, 63,075 soldiers have opted for postal life insurance (PLI) worth Rs 572.99 crore so far, which is the highest amount in new PLI business procured among all postal circles. As on date, APS Circle has more than 350,000 live policies. When the STD facilities were suspended in J&K due to reasons of security, the APS remained the only link between jawans and their families, living up to its motto: Mail Milap.

Article on the Army Postal Service

• Army Postal Service: A Soldier's Messenger