Skilled printers turn construction workers

More than 100 skilled workers who worked at the Government printing press in Tumkur have turned into construction workers, hamalis and peons to eke out a living since the press shut shop in 2009. The press started with 140 workers appointed on piecework basis, and 80 permanent employees.

03 Sep 2014 | By PrintWeek India

According to T Somashekar, Tumkur district Government printing press workers’ union, the press at Antharasanahalli in Tumkur was closed on the basis of a false report given by the director of department of printing, stationery and publications, on the condition of the machinery. 

Many of the workers were trained by the government and were with the unit since it started in 2000. In 2008-09, 1.68 crore textbooks were printed at this unit and in the first of quarter of 2009-10 alone, 25 lakh textbooks rolled out before closure that year. 

According to T B Jayachandra. minister for law and parliamentary affairs, the government will take steps to absorb the employees at Peenya and Mysore units, as told to The Hind.

Source: The Hindu