Nagpur: Savitha Landge (57) had been standing in a queue at General Post Office (GPO) for nearly 30 minutes to send a parcel to her son in Mumbai when postal staff informed her that the server was down. Little did she know that road excavation near her home was the reason.With Diwali approaching, post offices are witnessing a rush for booking parcels for sweets and goodies to family members living away. However, frequent server disruptions are slowing down transactions while processing parcels and uploading customer details.As per sources in Nagpur division of India Post, the department relies on BSNL for internet connectivity. TOI found that repeated damage to BSNL’s underground cables during road excavation and widening work is disrupting internet connectivity at post offices.BSNL personnel said excessive load on servers and too many nodes connected to a single network connection could also contribute to slow internet speeds and connectivity issues.Sources said the postal department has provided employees with dongles as an alternative. These offer limited relief when the postal server itself is slow or unresponsive, affecting overall work and increasing customer wait times.BSNL officials said cable damage during construction and excavation work was a recurring problem, with contractors often using heavy machinery without adequately accounting for underground utility lines. Officials also pointed out that some BSNL cables were laid 20 to 25 years ago. Road-widening projects can, therefore, pose a particular risk to these ageing underground networks.
