Bottled ‘Gangajal’ from Rishikesh has vanished from the shelves within two days
of India Post having launched the sale from its 47 head post offices throughout
West Bengal.
“We have seen a
surprising demand for this bottled Gangajal from Rishikesh… We started selling
it from Sunday and by Tuesday the stock was totally sold out,” Chief Post
Master General, West Bengal Circle, Arundhaty Ghosh told PTI.
Union Ministers Ravi Shankar
Prasad and Manoj Sinha on Sunday launched the new scheme which made easy
availability of Ganga water at all post offices across the country.
Two varieties of Gangajal
— one bottled in Gangotri and the other one in Rishikesh, some 300km downstream
— were available.
Gangajal, packaged in
bottles of 200ml and 500ml in Rishikesh were sold from the city’s General Post
Office (GPO) and 46 other head post offices including Howrah, Midnapore, Tamluk
and Siliguri.
“The demand is quite high
and we were unable to match it because the supply was quite meagre for the
first batch,” Ghosh said.
While the city saw 15
bottles of ‘Gangajal’ collected in Rishikesh vanishing on the first date, five
bottles of 200ml were sold out within minutes in Siliguri.
“Those bottles we have
sold so far were bottled in Rishikesh. We are yet to receive those bottled in
Gangotri. But the response was very encouraging,” the CPMG said.
On the reasons behind the
“sold out” of the Gangajal, Ghosh reasoned that “the great sentiment associated
with the holy water of the Ganges from Rishikesh”.
The 200ml bottled
Gangajal from Rishikesh is priced at Rs 15 while the 500ml costs Rs 22, Ghosh
said. “The Gangotri water will be slightly costlier with the 200ml bottle pried
at Rs 25, the 500ml bottle is priced at Rs 35,” the CPMG added.
In fact, orders have been
placed for a quick supply of bottles to meet the demand, she stated.
“We have placed new
orders for an immediate supply. But it may take some time to reach West Bengal
because of bad roads in Uttarakhand,” Ghosh said adding that a small
consignment will arrive soon.
“So far we have managed
to get a small consignment because the demand from other parts of the country
is also quite high. But we are trying to get more,” the official said.
Talking about the sale
online, the CPMG said, “People can place their order directly online to get the
bottles packed in a beautiful box at the doorstep.”
For bottles online, one
need to pay the charges equal to that of charges of the Speed Post.
“Here, in West Bengal
online charges are likely to vary depending on the distance. There can be a
price difference,” another official at the Postal department said.
According to Ghosh, this
will definitely be a big boost for business of the Postal department.
The initiative was taken
up by the Narendra Modi government to deliver the holy water from the Ganga at
the doorstep of every Indian across the length and breadth of the country using
the vast postal network.
