Karnataka Philately Passports sell out quickly at Bengaluru General Post Office
On Friday morning, hundreds of stamp collectors and travellers gathered at the General Post Office near Cubbon Park in Bengaluru for the launch of the Karnataka Philately Passport. The pocket-sized collectible booklet, launched by India Post’s Karnataka Postal Circle, sold out rapidly across Bengaluru, Mysuru, and Mangaluru, leaving many people in long queues disappointed after hours of waiting.
The Karnataka Philately Passport is a collectible booklet priced at Rs 600. It is designed to let stamp enthusiasts and travellers collect nearly 100 unique Permanent Pictorial Cancellations from post offices and iconic landmarks across Karnataka.
India Post had scheduled 1,500 passports to be issued across the state, with Bengaluru’s General Post Office accounting for the largest share of more than 1,000 passports. While launches also took place at head post offices in Mysuru and Mangaluru, a planned launch at the Belagavi Head Post Office was cancelled at the last moment.
At the Bengaluru General Post Office, long queues formed early in the morning, and tokens were distributed to manage the large crowd. While some collectors successfully secured the blue passport booklet, others expressed frustration over the management of the event and the limited stock.
Swaminathan Natarajan, a techie and traveller who queued at the Bengaluru GPO, noted that only 600 collectible books were apparently made available, despite the public expecting 1,000 copies. He stated that a crowd exceeding 600 people was allowed to wait for hours without clear information that the stock had been exhausted, while staff recorded videos of the crowd.
Similarly, a resident in Mysuru reported that she was unable to obtain a passport despite arriving at 10 a.m. and being the 120th person in line, even though over 200 passports were expected to be issued there.
Those who successfully bought the passport shared their excitement. A Bengaluru resident mentioned that they waited a long time but felt the passport was a valuable treasure to document their travels across Karnataka. Dhanush Chintamani, a resident of Mysuru, said he bought the passport as a travel souvenir to show future generations the places he had visited.
The Karnataka Postal Circle confirmed that the Philately Passports had completely sold out at the Bengaluru GPO, Mysuru Head Post Office, and Mangaluru Head Post Office due to the overwhelming response.
