A postman in India has been sacked for not delivering over 6,000 letters over a period of ten years in the Odhanga village located in the state of Orissa.
According to BBC, the stash of undelivered old letters and packages was discovered by a group of school children who were playing in the recently abandoned post office building.
Jagannath Puhan, who served as the branch postmaster for more than a decade was suspended after an initial inquiry found him “guilty of negligence and dereliction of duty”, according to police officials.
“We have managed to salvage over 1,500 letters in two days. But more than half of 6,000 letters that Puhan did not deliver have either turned soggy or eaten by termites and cannot be delivered at all,” the police official added.
The officials also added, most of the undelivered letters consisted of insurance letters, mails to the members of Parliament, postcards and other official mails.
While speaking to Hindustan Times, a senior postal official said Puhan chose what he wanted to deliver.
“He delivered the registered letters, money orders, speed posts and Aadhaar cards (identity cards), for which record has to be maintained, he seems to have chucked ordinary letters as no such records are maintained...,” he said.
“Since there were no official complaints, we had no way of knowing what he had delivered and what he had not,” he added.
Moreover, Puhan has admitted to throwing several letters in an abandoned room in the school building.
“For several years I could not walk properly and was not in a condition to deliver these letters,” he said.
