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 new to the portfolio over the last one year have been five brand new KOMORI sheet-fed offset presses which cater graphic print outputs in improved quality and new standard. Going down in history, Government of India Press was established in India’s pre-independence era. During the British colonial time, when Delhi was announced as the country’s new capital city in 1911 to be shifted from Calcutta , some central secretariat departments were also moved alongside in which a portion of Government of India Press was included.
In 1923, on the general re-organisation of all the branches of Government of India Presses, 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-colour 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 the landmark installations of the five KOMORI offset presses, it was a Lithrone GL 440 Advance Machine, that landed first in Government of India Press’ Minto Road production facility. Mr Jitender Rohilla, General Manager–Sales, KOMORI India Pvt Ltd, says, It has been honour for us to have Government of India Press as our client.
After the first press, “Lithrone GL 529+Coater” was installed and thereafter, all the remaining Three machines, namely “Lithrone GL 240P Advance presses for back-to-back printing” were installed consecutively in a matter of a few weeks. 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 15,000sph. 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.