Srinagar, Sep 26: The much awaited 4-day mega philatelic exhibition “Chinar 2011” was Monday inaugurated by Governor NN Vohra at SKICC on the Dal banks. He stressed the need to upgrade mail delivery system in the state through a publicity drive.
 “There is a significant need to improve the mail delivery and other postal services in the state, particularly in the remote areas, for the larger benefit of the common people. In this context the Postal Department must launch a publicity drive to educate the people to write the Pin Code on every letter put into the Mail Box, as this will facilitate quick delivery of mail,” the Governor said.
 He observed the postal stamps had been an important source for learning about the geography, history, culture, national personalities and other important aspects of any country. “The use of stamps first started about 150 years ago and if we were to put in chronological order all the stamps issued in India for the past over a century, they would provide an exciting glimpse into our history,” he said.
 On the occasion the Governor released a Special Cover on “Chinar 2011” and launched the first ever “My Stamp in the country by which the people will get personalized stamps with their photographs on it.”
 The exhibition put on display “world’s first postage stamp, Penny Black and India’s first postage stamp.” “The stamps carrying many interesting topics including Harry Potter, Princess Diana, magnificent cars, Hollywood, Railways, and Environment, Stamps on Fauna of Kashmir, Defence Services, Animal Kingdom, Beautiful Birds and many more exciting things will be on display”, Chief Postmaster General, Jammu and Kashmir Circle John Samuel told reporters on sidelines of the event.
 Talking to reporters he said the department has put 250 frames and 60, 000 rare postal stamps for public display in the exhibition. “People can buy the stamps from the exhibition as well”, he said.
 In his welcome address, Director Postal Services Amit Sharma , spoke about the aims and objectives of this event. Senior Superintendent of Posts BL Pandita, Srinagar, presented a Vote of Thanks.
 To attract more and more youngsters the department, Samuel said,  is holding a competition among students. “The competition will be held in different categories including Letter Writing, Stamp Designing and Quiz”.
 “The competition will be held among school and college students, and General group. The fourth group will take part as non-competitors. Winners of first three best letters will get cash award for Rs.10,000, Rs.5,000 and Rs.2,500 respectively”, Samuel said.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 26 Sep 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 26 Sep 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:00:00 IST