OPA’S executive body and special general body meeting at Barog

Ludhiana, March 13, 2013: Offset Printers’ Association (OPA) organised its executive body and special general body meeting at Barog Heights, Barog, Himachal Pradesh.

This meeting was called by Kamal Chopra, General Secretary, OPA to discuss and evaluate ongoing and forthcoming projects and works of the association.

Members of the Executive team, fellow printers and associate members of the association attended this event.

Barog was named after an Englishman engineer who was responsible for designing a tunnel near the railway station. He commenced digging the tunnel from both sides of the mountain. However, he made mistakes in his calculation and while constructing the tunnel and was fined an amount of Re. 1 by the British government. Unable to withstand the humiliation, Barog committed suicide. He was buried near the incomplete tunnel. The area came to be known as Barog after him.

The inaugural speech was given by Kushal Jain as welcomed all to the meeting. Then Gagandeep Singh, Secretary, OPA briefed all the works done by the association in the current year. He said that global competition is very near to us as government has sanctioned 100% FDI in the field of printing and packaging. “We can face the stiff competitions and challenges in our industry by acting jointly one way of which is to work in clusters”, he added. He also announced that Offset Printers’ Association will be supporting a Printing Exhibition to be held from October 19 to 21, 2013 at Government College for Women Ludhiana which will help regional printers to get aware of upcoming technologies in the industry. He also presented the minutes from proceedings of current years executive meetings to the members.

Sanjay Gandhi, Vice President OPA also shared his views on this occasion. In his address he added that now the times have changed from past in the sense that more and more new entrepreneurs are coming into the field which is a healthy sign and future seems to be bright. He also put light on the fact that OPA has also sent his suggestion to the Govt. of India to minimize the Rate of Interest for the printing industry on business loans and Imported machinery so that manufacturers get motivated and can play their part in the growth of Indian economy.

Amanjot Arora, Executive Member was selected as best speaker in the meet. He said that OPA will be organizing financial seminars in  which experts from will be called from their respective fields like CAs, lawyers and financial managers who will make the fellow printers aware about the current financial situations and guide them to maintain co-ordination with the government departments in a better way.

All the executive body members presented their project reports at the meeting and shared their views about the future of printing industry in India. Kamal Chopra said that packaging industry has taken a rapid growth globally and it is expected to grow more in the coming years as the demand for better & innovative packaging solutions is increasing rapidly. There will be a certain change in technology being used currently.

Chopra also entertained various finance, growth, technology and price related questions and queries from fellow printers and associate members of the association and all members appreciated suggestions given by him and thanked him for organising this meeting at such a beautiful place.