Operated under the Directorate of Printing, which is controlled by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, Government of India Press on Minto Road in New Delhi is responsible for executing varied printing jobs for the ministries and departments using a vast portfolio of highly advanced and modern printing machines and equipment. Added to the portfolio over the past year are five brand-new Komori sheet-fed offset presses, which deliver graphic print outputs with improved quality and new standards.
Tracing its roots back to the pre-independence era, the Government of India Press holds a significant place in the country’s administrative history. When Delhi was declared the new capital in 1911, marking the shift from Calcutta (now Kolkata), several central secretariat departments were relocated – and among them was a section of the Government of India Press, which played a key role in supporting the functioning of the new capital. In 1923, on the general re-organisation of all the branches of Government of India Press, Delhi unit was totally separated. Its newly constructed building during the British Rule Era, on Minto Road was inaugurated in 1931 and it’s where the five Komori presses are running productively today, in the totally New Building, after demolishing the British Rule Era Building.
Currently, Directorate of Printing is overseeing five different branches of Government of India Press, which are located in New Delhi (Minto Road, Mayapuri, and Rashtrapati Bhavan), Nashik (Maharashtra), and Kolkata (West Bengal). The directorate has assigned these presses to take care of printing varied documents, viz. daily bulletins, manuals, standing committee reports, highlights, synopsises, as well as President Secretariat documents and many others.
Right from DTP job, multi-color offset printing and various associated tasks, Government of India Press on Minto Road makes its best efforts to meet the exact requirements of prints of all kinds in desired quality, textures, colours, and value-added services demanded from all the ministries and departments. Print value and productivity at the branch has tremendously been improved following the installations of five Komori offset presses in its production setup.”
Marking the beginning of a landmark series of installations, the first to arrive at the Government of India Press’ Minto Road production facility was the Komori Lithrone GL 440 Advance – setting the stage for a new era in high-quality printing. Jitender Rohilla, general manager – sales, Komori India, says, “It has been an honour for us to have the Government of India Press as our esteemed client. Following the installation of the first press, the Lithrone GL 529+Coater, three more machines – the Lithrone GL 240P Advance presses designed for back-to-back printing – were installed consecutively within just a few weeks, marking a remarkable milestone in the project’s execution.”
Machines and equipment at the production setup of Government of India Press on Minto Road keep upgrading from one level to another since its inception. In its year of inauguration in 1931, an advanced Dawson Payne & Lockett (London) proofing machine was installed. Likewise, over the years, presses from the world’s leading brands like Miller, Adast Dominent, Web Offset Press, Max, and HMT were installed, some discarded after their Life Span and few of them have been running currently, in the facility which is now predominated by the all new five advanced and modern Lithrone offset presses from Komori India.
Lithrone GL 529+Coater now running productivity at the Minto Road facility of Government of India Press is capable to operate at the speed of 16,500sph, handling stocks up to 0.8mm thick. On the other side, Lithrone GL 440 Advance is a 40″ press, printing at the speed of 16,500sph. Correspondingly, trio of Lithrone GL 240P Advance offset presses in the facility are also ideally designed for two-side printing at the maximum speed of 15,000 sph.
According to a source from Government of India Press, Minto Road, all the five new Komori offset presses are not just a bunch of newly adopted advanced machines but also a new benchmark of perfection in print quality and productivity.
