And even today, when the telegram is largely overlooked as a means of communication, the department continues to innovate.
In November 2006, the Web-based telegraphy message system (WTMS) was developed. In an odd case of modern-meeting-ancient, WTMS uses the Internet for fast and accurate delivery of messages. “Today, 17 out of the 25 telegraph zones use WTMS through our server in Trivandrum (now called Thiruvananthapuram) and we are working on a backup server in Ernakulam,” says Sinha. Unfortunately, these innovations haven’t grabbed the public’s imagination. Which could also be the reason why there aren’t too many customer complaints any more.
For many in the telegraph department, the number of complaints indicates the demand and use of the system. And given that the numbers are declining, for some employees, it is a sign that the service is a “sinking ship”.
The decline
“The decline mainly started in the early 1990s, when the Internet was introduced in India, fast followed by mobile phones. Who would want to send telegrams when all they had to do was send an SMS or make a quick phone call?” says Sudhira Sabharwal, senior officer, BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd) corporate office.
Gopinath, however, prefers to pin the blame on the rivalry between the telephone and telegraph departments. According to Gopinath, the telephone department took all the new developments of non-voice services such as fax, data communications, video text services etc, under its purview, leaving the telegraph with no option to diversify. Even a feeble attempt by the department to start Express Money Service was stopped after a trial period of a couple of years. “We introduced the service, which was an idea that was later taken up by Western Union Money Transfer Service. In 6 hours time, we would deliver the money; otherwise, we used to refund the commission charges. The telephone people didn’t allow us to sustain that.”
After Sam G. Pitroda became C-Dot (Centre for Development of Telematics) chairman in 1984, he and G.B. Meemamsi, executive director of C-Dot, developed the electronic digital telephone switch, which improved telephone services tremendously. This compounded problems for the telegraph services.
Many believe the separation of the postal and telegraph services in the early 1990s worsened things. Till this bifurcation, telegrams were received at post offices and then delivered to the recipient by post. “In their last estimate, the postal service demanded Rs56 as just agency charges to handle a single telegram.” Sabharwal says.
Compare this with the pittance the department charges for a telegram. Minimim telegraph charges were last revised in 1983 to Rs3.50 for a 10-word message. Postal registry charges, says Sabharwal, which were cheaper than telegrams at the time now start from Rs17.