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| Post & Telegraphic building Patna. upload.wikimedia.org |
Above image: This iconic Post & Telegraphic Office (Commonly GPO) building in Patna is 104 years old and was built during the British Raj under the Crown administration, London. Viceroy Charles Hardinge laid the foundation in 1912. Serving as an important economic and administrative link between United Provinces of Agra & Oudh and Bengal Presidency, Patna GPO was a major postal center then. According to senior official, “Besides the grand structure with 1.93 lakh square feet built-up area, Patna happens to be the first postal unit in the world to have evolved a prepaid system for postal services.”.............................
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| The Patna GPO building. .hindustantimes.com |
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| GPO, Patna, Bihar. etvbharat.com |
The Postal building in the new Patna city designed by Joseph Fearis Munnings., came up on a plot of 22 acres of land, now a prime area. The work began with the laying of foundation stone by Lord Hardinge on 1 December 1912. According to official records the first post office in Patna was near Anisabad area, later it was shifted to Bankipore. The PO near Hazaribagh - now part of the state of Jharkhand, was the first post office of the province of Bihar and Orissa. The P & T Office building was designed in Gothic Revival architectural style by the architect Munnings and it was not a well embellished structure. Part of the reason is Britain was in the midst of WWI and the treasury of the British Empire had experienced financial constrains on account of war expenses, part of which was borne by British India. So, the architect followed a simple design and used the local construction materials as much as he could, thus saving money for war efforts in the European theater.
Featuring arcade and flat roof the design of the building includes Mogul elements, plastered brick walls and fine Chhajja (an overhanging eave or roof covering) common in Delhi. The original building is designed with three porticoes - north, south and east, and each one functioning as the main entrance to the main building. The western side was a later addition. The ground floor with seven rooms has four halls with counter areas. On the other hand the 14 halls on the first floor are big. The chief postmaster's office is in the central portion, while the deputy postmaster's office is underneath it.
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| GPO Patna Commemorative stamp 2017 exclusivecoins.blogspot.com |
Above image: An envelope issued by India Post with a printed 500 Paise (or Rs.5/-) Stamp at top right depicting the Patna GPO, a Heritage Building. The envelope is titled "Commemorative Envelope - 09.10.2017". The envelope is printed at the Security Printing Press, Hyderabad, as is mentioned at extreme right in vertical print............................
The built-up area is around 2.5 lakh sq ft and and 296 employees are working there. The building was renovated way back in 2000 at a cost of INR 1.25 crore. This included two fountains five gardens, including one with medicinal herbs within the complex. In 2017 GPO Patna delivered 1 lakh letters and parcels daily through 96 postmen. and had more than 12 lakh savings accounts. There are separate counters for students and senior citizens.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Post_Office,_Patna
https://exclusivecoins.blogspot.com/2018/07/770-commemorative-stationeries-part-4.html
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