Nilgiris Postal Service Marks 200 Years of History

The postal service in the Nilgiris district has reached its 200th year, and special events have been urged to be held during World Post Day week.

History

This postal service started 10 years before the Indian Post Act was passed in 1837, during the British rule. In 1826, Madras Governor Sir Thomas Munro visited the Nilgiris, marking the historical beginning of this service. Coimbatore Collector John Sullivan asked for two post offices to be set up because Ooty Market and Stone House were far apart. The service started under the revenue department with only two delivery runners. Later, due to administrative friction between Sullivan and Governor S.R. Lushington, the postal administration shifted to the military in 1828. Colonel Thomas King was appointed as the postmaster in 1837. The commandant post was dropped in 1843, and the postal service went back to the revenue department under Hodges. The Ooty post office moved to different places before a combined post and telegraph office was finished in December 1883 near the old collector office at Telegraph Hill. Robert Chisholm, the architect who designed the Nilgiri Library, built this structure.

Growth

According to Nilgiri Documentation Centre Director Dharmalingam Venugopal, postal runners carried letters before the Nilgiri Mountain Railway arrived in 1899. Twenty-six runners were appointed on the Ooty-Mysore and Sigur routes. The Nilgiri postal service joined the Coimbatore circle administratively in 1885 and grew to 40 branches by 1951 after independence. A separate Nilgiri postal division with Ooty as headquarters was created in 1962. The Ooty post office received a permanent pictorial stamp featuring a Toda tribal hut in 1994 to honor the tribal community.

Context

World Post Day week is celebrated from today until the 14th, and local programs have been suggested to raise awareness about these historical records. Postal services in hill regions like the Nilgiris faced unique challenges due to difficult terrain before modern transport networks developed.