Sikdar has ordered the Department of Posts and Telegraph to freely auction the space on the postal stationary in order to raise resources for the cash starved department.

Oh yes, given the fact that we don't want our children growing up the wrong way, cigarette and liquor ads will not be allowed.

There's more. Sikdar told The Indian Express: ``In fact I am thinking of suggesting giving advertising space on telephone instruments supplied by MTNL (MahanagarTelephone Nigam Ltd) and the Department of Telecom Services (DTS) to their subscribers in order to make good the losses of these departments by lowering of STD and ISD call rates.'' Rationalising the move, Sikdar said ``the postal department made net losses of Rs 1,597 crore during the last year,''. ``What is the harm if we can raise money through legitimate means within our own area of operations,'' he says.

``As it is the government is hard pressed for funds from the central pool and if we leave avenues like this untapped, we could lose crores of rupees which are waiting to find a way into our beleaguered government departments,'' Sikdar adds. ``And this is the day of aggressive marketing and we should not lag behind,'' he says.

Indians use 43 crore postcards, 45 crore inland letters, 2.8 crore reply cards, 3.8 crore airmail cards, 16 crore envelopes and 20 crore money order forms every year.

Depending on the scale of usage of a particular item, free bidding for the advertising space will be done -maybe at zonal levels as well as an All-India level. The highest bidder will win the ad space on the stationary every quarter.

Says Sikdar, `` the idea is workable and a practical way of raising resources for the department. If we have to protect the customer from paying very high charges for these services and frequent revisions in prices, the officials will have to change their mindset.''