Freeze on hiring at oldest press

CHANDIGARH: In an attempt to close down the Sector-18 Government Press, running in one of the oldest buildings of this city, the central ministry of home affairs has told the UT administration to stop hiring workers for it after the current lot retires.
The Government Press has 263 employees in different departments. Besides regular publication jobs for the Chandigarh administration it also prints various public orders, notifications, and forms.It does binding work and publishes secret documents such as examination papers. Since the UT administration publishes all its confidential papers at this press, it's a question what it will do after its closure. "No decision has been taken on this, so far, in talks with the central government, but the UT might have to look for a private publisher," a source in the administration said.
The same decision has also been imposed on government presses of some the other Union Territories of the county. "The press at Daman, Diu, and Silvassa has agreed to be closed down. Of the nine branches of the Lakshadweep press, the ones at Amini and Chetlat have been shut already. Four branches-those at Kavaratti, Minicoy, Androth and Kadmat-might be retained, given the distance and scattered geography of the UT," the instruction from the ministry reads, adding: "The remaining three branches at Aggati, Kalpeni and Kiltan are to be closed. The continuation of printing presses in Chandigarh and Puducherry has only one rationale-difficulty in the re-employment of manpower. The workers may be allowed to continue the press on the condition that posts falling vacant upon their retirement will not be filled."
Sources in the Chandigarh administration said that a few months ago, the central ministry had decided to shut down the Sector-18 press but senior UT officers had argued for saving the jobs of a good number of employees. The UT officers had stated that the sudden loss of so many jobs will have "crucial repercussions". After that, the MHA officials had discussed the issue with the UT officers and decided not to shut down the press immediately. They came up with the freeze on hiring.