In 1984, India’s first post office in Antarctica was set up at Dakshin Gangotri — the nation’s first scientific base there.
- Dakshin Gangotri submerged in ice in 1988-89 and was subsequently decommissioned.
- On January 26, 1990, a post office branch was set up at India’s Maitri research station on Antarctica. Since then, for more than 35 years, letters and postcards in blank envelopes are sent — mostly by philatelists, collectors and hobbyists — to the Maitri post office for ‘cancellation’.
- Almost four decades later, letters meant for Antarctica will now have a new PIN code, MH-1718, with the Department of Posts opening a second branch of the post office on Bharati research station in Antarctica.
- India’s two research bases on Antarctica — Maitri and Bharati — are located 3,000 km apart. Both branches are part of the Goa postal division.
- An Indian post office can only be in the jurisdiction of Indian land. Antarctica gives a unique opportunity to have an Indian post office in a land which is foreign and does not belong to India. So, it serves a strategic purpose in terms of asserting presence on the continent.
