Parcel meant for Chaina, Punjab, lands in China; thanks to postal service

Chandigarh, Feb 15: What we call this? A comedy of error?

Balwinder Kaur of Chandigarh had posted a parcel of medicines for her ailing mother who resides in Chaina near Faridkot in Punjab. Kaur was told the parcel will take two to three working days to reach the destination which it never did. After almost two weeks, it came back to Kaur herself.

Chandigarh's General Post Office in Sector 17 sent the parcel of the crucial medicines for blood to Beijing, China, instead of the given Chaina in Punjab.

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Kaur and his family were so upset with the blunder since the parcel included life-saving drugs that they approached the consumer forum and lodged a complaint. The GPO at Sector 17 has been ordered to pay Rs 5,000 to Kaur for 'deficiency in services'.

The parcel that Kaur posted for her mother on January 18 had the full postal address on it: "China, Tehsil Jaito, District Faridkot, Punjab".

When she tracked the progress of the delivery of the consignment with the docket number provided by the postal department, she was in for shock. The parcel had left the shores of India and landed in China because of the post office's goofup.

As per a report by The Indian Express, the package was sent from Chandigarh to Delhi from where it left for China and it all happened between January 19 and 27. And after all the drama, it came back to Chandigarh a day before February started.

However, the National Sorting Hub department of the said GPO at Sector 17 refused to apologise and said postal offices are exempted from any liability for loss, wrong delivery and damage of goods.

It was only after a through probe that the forum asked the GPO to pay Rs 2,500 to Kaur as compensation and an additional Rs 2,500 as litigation cost.