Following the footsteps of Delhi and Bengaluru, the Department of Posts, Tamil Nadu Circle symbolically showed that it continues to fly high. Today, a hot air balloon, carrying a special cover from Pollachi to Kovilpalayam, was flagged off by Manju P.Pillai, Postmaster General of the Western Region, Tamil Nadu Circle, Coimbatore.

The balloon was flagged off from Pollachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry as per schedule at 6 am this morning. The Department of Posts, Tamil Nadu Circle joined hands with M/s Global Media Box Innovations Pvt. Ltd. for this venture.

B.K. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar, Chairman of Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, Coimbatore Kendra, received the special cover from the hot air balloon at the Kovilpalayam Post Office at 8 am. “Hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology to travel to places that feet, paddles, and wheels couldn’t tread upon. This hot air balloon travelled at 10 km per hour and safely landed at its destination making our ambitious mission successful,” Manju P. Pillai said.

Despite being a Sunday, children from several schools were at the venue to witness the special delivery this morning. Also present throughout the event were G. D. Gopalakrishnan , President of Pollachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry; C. G. Bhaskar, Treasurer of South India Philately Association, Chennai; Benedict Savio, Founder and Director of Global Media Box; Babu Prasath, Vice President of Global Media Box, and. Gary Moore, the pilot.

At the venue, stamps and philatelic products like rare stamps, envelopes, and albums to store stamps, were on display and for sale. There was a beeline of people at the My Stamp counter, which was accepting requests to make bespoke stamps for people on the spot.

Picture: Special mail delivery by hot air balloon, courtesy India Post.