Dr. Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development, Government of India, visited Madurai on 20 September 2026 and participated in a series of programmes organised by the Department of Posts, Southern Region, Madurai. The programme commenced at 2.00 p.m. at Heritage Madurai.
The Hon’ble Minister officially launched the India Post–Open Network for Digital Commerce partnership in Southern Region, Madurai. The initiative brought together ONDC’s open digital-commerce network and India Post’s extensive nationwide logistics infrastructure to connect farmers, Farmer Producer Organisations, artisans, MSMEs and other local enterprises with customers across India.
As part of the initiative, Southern Region partnered initially with three Farmer Producer Organisations: Varaganathi Farmers Producer Company Limited, Theni District; Maamadurai Farmers Producer Company Limited, Madurai District; and Kambikudi Kalvai Farmers Producer Company Limited, Virudhunagar District. The partnership enabled sellers participating in the ONDC network to use India Post for parcel collection, booking, transmission, tracking and last-mile delivery.
A dedicated warehouse and fulfilment facility was also established at Madurai Head Post Office for the collection, processing, professional packing and dispatch of ONDC orders.
Following the launch, the Minister declared S. Keelapatti village as a Sampoorna Sukanya Gram under the Sukanya Samriddhi Account scheme. The village is served by Sandaiyur Branch Post Office, attached to Peraiyur Sub Post Office, under Tirumangalam Sub-Division of Madurai Postal Division.
S. Keelapatti had 752 households and a population of 2,633, comprising 1,305 males and 1,328 females. All 115 eligible girl children below the age of 10 years in the village were covered under the Sukanya Samriddhi Account scheme, enabling the village to achieve 100 per cent coverage. The Hon’ble Minister handed over Sukanya Samriddhi Account passbooks to the beneficiaries.
Under the Sampoorna Sukanya Gram initiative, 2,626 villages had been covered out of the 6,861 villages in Southern Region, Tamil Nadu. The initiative reflected the Department’s sustained efforts to identify eligible girl children, facilitate the opening of accounts and extend the benefits of the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana to every eligible family.
Thereafter, the Minister reviewed the performance and key initiatives of the Department of Posts, Southern Region, Madurai. The review covered the Region’s operational and business performance, delivery of citizen-centric postal services, financial inclusion initiatives, expansion of parcel and e-commerce logistics, technology-enabled services and other key developmental initiatives.