Kamal Chopra, general secretary of the association while addressing the invited guests said, “OPA has had an illustrious past thanks to the contributions of our first generation of printers, and I hope our field will continue to be enriched by the next generation of printers. We at OPA believe that serving the printing industry is our motive, and for this, we have tried to reach to all the printers located in and around Ludhiana. We have around 35 associations from small towns affiliated to OPA and we visit them and other cities regularly to educate the printers about the latest government schemes and new developments in printing segment. Another feather was added to OPA’s cap when it got the opportunity to host 144th GCA of All India Federation of Master Printers.”

With several group visits, trainings, white paper releases the years 2012 and 2013 have been one of its most active periods. OPA is currently working on various projects for the benefit of printing industry including programmes such as Print Yatra and Print Chetna. The association is also working on developing a printing and packaging cluster in Ludhiana.

“Under the Print Yatra project OPA conducts visits to printing associations or a group of printers in other cities and towns to motivate them to work jointly and come together for the upliftment of the printing industry. OPA provides them initial funds to form an association and extend all support and help that they may require. Print Chetna is a very unique and first of its kind project started by OPA where team goes to various government schools and colleges and try to educate the children about adopting printing as a career. Students are unaware of printing and its techniques whereas printing is the second largest business worldwide. It’s a small step to bring a change in the society,” Chopra added.

At the celebrations, all past-presidents of the association were honoured and others were remembered for their contribution to the association. Dr. Rajendrakumar Anayath, who was the guest of honour, spoke about the significance of value in the modern media world.SS Dhillon, director, MSME, during his address, appreciated OPAs efforts and congratulated the members on the occasion. He asked other members associations to come forward and take the initiative to start the cluster programs and take benefit of other available government schemes.

Parveen Aggarwal, president, OPA, congratulated the members on the completion of 25 years of the associations, and gave a brief about its activities to the printers who had gathered from all over north India. Aggarwal further reassured the guests that OPA will continue to work for the betterment of printing industry across the country. Further to his address, the current team of OPA was dissolved. The new team will be sworn in by next few days.

Many printing companies too were honoured during the celebration. Rakesh Gupta, director, PL Printers—one of the companies which were honoured—shared his experience about the difficulties litho-printers used to face before automation and newer technologies made inroads to the country. A souvenir was also released during the program. The major highlight of the souvenir is it includes a timeline of the events and projects initiated by OPA.