DOP has always been considered one of the low-key government bodies and has since long been deprived of any significant care and investment from the government. It is after a series of incidents jeopardizing confidentiality, such as the leaking of question papers of government examination boards, that DOP is being geared up for development as the nation´s security press. [break]
The government has approved a budget of Rs 80 million to purchase a new printing machine. With this equipment, DOP will be able to print most of the state´s confidential documents, officials claim. DOP already has three heavy printing machines.
"At present, we do not have enough capacity to take a large volume of business orders," said Navaraj Tiwari, Acting Director General at DOP. "Once we buy the equipment and arrange necessary infrastructure and manpower, we will be able to handle every kind of order. We are soon going to start the purchase process."
Officials at DOP said that problems like leaks and duplication of government documents are mounting because of insecure printing by the private sector. Meanwhile, DOP staff are usually found languishing with no real work at hand. Several competent officials recently opted for the government´s voluntary retirement scheme.
"This can ensure retention of qualified technical staff who, though small in number, could put in high performance given new infrastructure," Tiwari added.
The government has not yet realized that printing inside Singhdurbar premises would ensure the highest level of security, said a senior engineer at DOP.
DOP in recent years has been printing only certain types of essential government documents like the budget speech and the Finance Ministry´s yearly budget allocation books, the annual reports of constitutional bodies, the Nepal Gazette and revenue bills. It printed question papers for the Higher Secondary Education Board for two years only and lost the business because of its skimpy service. As a significant piece of business after a long time, it is now printing the new citizenship certificates.
"We will be able to print every important documents and paper items except currency notes and passports," said a senior printing officer. "It is in our notice that the bulk of our paper money printing is going abroad and empowering DOP will stop that."
Related story
Companies allege DoP of restricting competition in passport ten...
