A team of eminent persons, including Dr.S.Padmanabhan, general secretary of Historic and Cultural Research Centre, and Dr.Sumithra Rahuvaran, co-convener of the district unit of Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), headed by convener of INTACH R.S.Lal Mohan, recently conducted a survey of pillar post boxes, the heritage of the erstwhile princely state of Travancore.
According to them, in the Travancore state, private letter boxes were permitted for the first time during 1861-1862. At that time, the postal department was known as Travancore Anchal. Separate receipts were given by the post offices to every letter posted in Anchal boxes.
The Anchal boxes were painted in green colour in the early days. In the Travancore state, there were 225 Anchal boxes in 1911, which came down to 84 in 1982. The number of remaining boxes is 58 now. At present, Anchal boxes are painted in red colour.
The team has written to the Department of Post to protect these heritage boxes.
Source:-The Hindu
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