(FE)
The Indian Railways has decided to close down all the printing presses it owns and redeploy the staff employed in these units to other departments. The move is part of the railways’ strategy to exit activities which are no longer integral to its functioning. “All printing presses owned by the railways will be closed and staff will be redeployed. The railways runs 14 printing presses,” said a ministry of railway official requesting not to be named.
The decision was taken during the marathon meeting called by railway minister Piyush Goyal of Railway Board members and general managers of all 17 railway zones.These printing units are mostly very old and have outdated machinery, and with increasingly less requirement of paper-based communication they have ran out of favour.“Traditionally, a lot of paper such as forms were used by the railways. But now these are getting automated and the quality of these presses are also very poor, given their vintage-era machines. These are moribund 19th century units which are not required any more,” said a former railway employee requesting not to be named.
