Middle East conflict grounds global mail services in Ludhiana

Ludhiana: The Department of Posts has temporarily suspended the booking of international mail to several countries in the Middle East and Africa due to disruptions in air connectivity, according to officials at the postal department.In the notice issued from the department, it was stated that is that the suspension has been necessitated by an "unforeseen force majeure situation in the Middle East" that has led to the non-availability of air transport for mail dispatch. As a result, bookings of international mail of all categories to a number of destinations have been halted until flight connections are restored.The suspension applies to mail destined for Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Officials clarified that the restriction covers all categories of international mail, including parcels, speed post consignments and registered articles.While the department will continue to monitor the situation and review the suspension periodically, officials stated.The department also clarified the procedure for customers who have already booked consignments for the affected destinations but whose articles have not yet been dispatched from India. Such customers will be allowed to recall their items by submitting an application at the post office where the booking was made."If articles have already been booked but are yet to be dispatched from India, customers have the option to recall their consignments by submitting an application to the booking post office," it was stated.The district sees a large number of international mails sent, including the countries in the middle east.Balbir Singh, senior superintendent of Post Offices City Division said that if any customer arrives to book posts for these countries, they are informed that due to the current situation, it is not possible to deliver the mail, and delivery would get delayed until the situation normalizes and the connectivity resumes.