Karnataka > Postal Services
As early as 17th century, old Mysore State had local postal system called 'Anche', the word popularised by prince Chikkadevaraya. 'Anche', being the Kannada form of 'Hamsa', the messenger used by Nala and Damayanti of epic fame. Under Odeyars, it was a part of the intelligence department and was headed by the Anche Bakshi. Imperial Post Offices working under the British at Srirangapatna, Hunsur and Tumkur were included in the Anche Dept. Of the two imperial postal lines functioning, the Bangalore to Bambay route was passing through Chitradurga and Harihara; the other from Bangalore to Mangalore via Mysore. There were Imperial Post Offices at Bangalore, Mysore, Harihara and Pandavapura (French Rocks). The British had opened their post offices at Bangalore Cantonment and Mangalore during the first decade of the nineteenth century and other centres of Bombay-Karnataka during the second and third decades of the nineteenth century. Dharwad had a post office in 1820 and Hubli in 1833. The number of post offices rose from 180 (1882) to 412 (1886) in the Mysore Kingdom and Quarter Anna post cards were introduced in old Mysore. The Mysore Anche system until its merger with the imperial postal department in 1889 was rendering services at a very cheap rate.
For some time, in the beginning, the post was carried by the runners and delivered to the destinations. There was a cartline service between Madras and Bangalore. After the completion of Railway line between Bangalore and Madras in 1864, mail was transported in trains. With the introduction of motor vehicles during the 20th century, mail was carried by the motor buses. The Bangalore General Post Office (GPO) was opened in 1800 and was one of the most important post offices in the Madras circle after Madras GPO. In 1854, Bangalore was a Saddar or Head office and Subordinate offices attached to it were Pandavapura (French Rocks), Hunsur, Harihara. Madikeri, Mysore, Shimoga, Srirangapatna and Tumkur. In 1870, there were receiving houses at Bangalore Cantonment and Bangalore city. Kollegal was transferred from Coimbatore Head office to Bangalore Head office in 1889. In 1891, Money Order services were transferred from State Treasury to Post Offices.
In 1921-22, the Director of Industries and Commerce was appointed liasion officer, between the State and the British Post and Telegraph Department. There were four Head Offices, 109 Sub Offices and 376 Branch Offices in the Princely Mysore State during 1923-24, The old post offices in Kodagu district were Virajpet (1864), Madikeri (1870) and Ammathi (1871). Post was directly transported from Mysore Railway Station to Madikeri on Horse carts in 1894. District Postal Department was under the control of PMG Madras. The postal division of Dakshina Kannada included the entire district and a part of the present Kerala. Bellary district in the Madras Presidency had a postal division.
In Hyderabad-Karnataka, the Nizam's Govt. had a Postal Department of its own and the Govt. service mail was carried and delivered by the orderlies or sawars. In 1869 the first postage stamp of Hyderabad was introduced and postal insurance scheme in 1907. There was a British Indian post office at Humnabad. The postal dept. of Hyderabad was merged with the central postal system on 1.4.1950. The Hyderabad Karnataka region was under the Gulbarga postal division from 1959-60. The Bijapur and Belgaum districts were under the Southern Maratha postal division in 1884 and the Head offices were functioning at Bijapur, Kaladgi and Belgaum. There were 30 post offices at Kumta and Karwar in 1883. Besides, there were 17 sub-post offices and 11 village post offices also were working during the same period. In Belgaum district 40 post offices and one telegraph office at Belgaum were functioning during 1884. From Bombay to Karwar, posts were carried by steamers once a week. In 1803, a runner route was opened between Bombay and Madras via Belgaum, Dharwad, Harihara and Bangalore. About 230 runners were employed for this purpose. Another runner route was passing from Malabar to Bombay through Honavar and Dharwad. Postal bags were exchanged at Dharwad, since it was an important centre in the postal system.
With the formation of Karnataka Post and Telegraph Circle on 1.4.1960, Gulbarga Division (Hyderabad circle); Dharwad and Belgaum Divisions (Bombay circle); Bangalore, Mysore, Dakshina Kannada and Bellary Divisions (Madras Circle) were transferred to the Karnataka Postal Circle. One Railway Mail Service (RMS) Division at Bangalore (Q division) was also transferred from Madras circle. Under the control of this division, there were six RMS sorting offices in running trains. There is a phenomenal increase in the postal activities after the formation of Karnataka Circle. As on 1.4.1960, there were 3,966 post offices in the State and on an average, one post office was there for every 48.38 sq.km and to a population of 5,934. The corresponding statistics as on 31.3.1992 was 9,707 post offices on an average of one for every 19.80 sq.km and for a population of 4,680. By March 1999, there were 9,852 post offices working in the state. In March 2000, the Karnataka Postal Circle office had control over the three regions of Bangalore, South Karnataka and North Karnataka with their head quarters at Bangalore for the first two and Dharwad for the last one. There were altogether 9,873 post offices comprising 70 H.O's, 1785 S.P.O's, 296 EDSO's and 7,722 EDBO's in the State. During the year 1999-2000, 1,23,34,011 registered articles were booked in the state. As on March 2003, there were 9,908 Post Offices in the State. Telegraph : Construction of telegraph lines was started around 1853 and by 1856 about 537 km telegraph lines were laid in princely Mysore. Madikeri was an important centre in the coastal telegraphic division of Malabar during 1869-90, as the telegraph line from Mysore to Cannanore passed via Madikeri. There was a branch line to Mangalore in 1865. Mangalore had one central telegraph office. The two telegraph offices working in the state in 1870-71, were at Mysore and Bangalore. British had also connected their district headquarters like Bangalore cantonment, Bellary, Belgaum and Dharwad by telegraph lines. By 2000, there were 4,032 combined telegraphic offices and 253 independent telegraphic offices in the state with 81 telegraphic offices accepting the telegrams even in Devanagari Script.
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