ISLAMABAD (APP) Employees of the Pakistan Post working in remote as well as in urban areas of the country on Sunday called for incentives equal to private couriers companies employees. The Pakistan Post has huge network in the remote areas of the country and only the government has the resources to keep them running because the private sector cannot afford to run its services there, remarks a clerk at the customer care centre of the post office in Saddar, Rawalpindi. He also called for better transportation facilities for delivery of parcels, mails and letters to their customers. Abdul Majeed, a local postman while talking to this news agency, claimed that their salary was hardly enough to meet their needs as they had to manage their accommodation on their own due to non-availability of any housing colony for them. Salaries of private couriers are much better and they also have the facility of motorbikes for smooth deliveries to the customers, he said and alleged that only those postmen, who have good relation with the high-ups of the Pakistan Post, are provided motorbikes while the others have to face conveyance problems in distribution of letters and parcels to their customers. He urged the concerned officials to take immediate steps to facilitate postmen to improve the services of Pakistan Post. OCS, Manager, Atif Khan offers a different explanation. He points out that since their delivveries are handled by eight t ten people, there is a risk of theft when it comes to transporting valuables and money, leaving customers with little choice. There are others who feel that computerisation of the postal system may help overcome the problems being faced by the customers. The reason people are willing to pay more to the private courier service is because we have established goodwill with our customers and have a tracking system. For its part, the government says it is planning to revamp the system with the help of the extra budget allocated this year. When connected, a Pakistan Post official said that its budget has been increased from Rs 8 billion in the previous year to Rs 8.6 billion in 2010-11, most of which will be utilised to computerise the postal system. There are others who suggest spending a portion of this on the salaries of postmen whose door-to-door service is often ignored. Unless they get an incentive, the money will never be delivered on time, believes Zaheer a clerk. But this is less likely to happen. Why should the government make an effort when it knows no one else can break its monopoly? argues Hafeez. No matter how many people complain, the system will continue to run the way it has been for decades, he predicts.