Subhash Mahajan
Dalhousie
The decision to shut down and relocate the Dalhousie Cantonment Sub-Post Office has sparked strong resentment among local residents.
This sub-post office, operational since the British era, has long served the people of Dalhousie Cantonment and nearby villages, providing essential services such as banking, postal bookings, and mail distribution. Locals argue that beyond postal needs, the office also supported small-scale commerce by drawing people into the cantonment area.
Residents have appealed to Dalhousie MLA D.S. Thakur and MP Rajiv Bhardwaj to intervene and ensure the office remains functional at its current location.
When contacted, Dalhousie Sub-Division Postal Inspector Amit Kumar explained that the relocation and merger orders were issued from Shimla. He noted that departmental rules require a minimum distance of five kilometers between two post offices, whereas the Dalhousie Cantonment Sub-Post Office is only three kilometers away from the Dalhousie Post Office. He added that several other regulatory conditions are also not met by the cantonment branch.
Despite these official clarifications, local residents insist that the closure will inconvenience the community and erode a historic institution that has been part of Dalhousie’s identity for decades.
