The building housing the press and the machinery inside. Pictures by Main Uddin Chisti

Cooch Behar, June 22: Trinamul Congress MLA from Natabari Rabindranath Ghosh today promised the workers of a century-old government press that he would ask commerce and industries minister Partha Chatterjee to modernise it to make it viable for use.

The MLA was upset with the state of affairs at the press, whose workers have been accused of sitting idle.

“The CPM government has ruined the press. A workforce of 72 has been taking their salaries virtually doing no work. Costly machines of the Raj period in Cooch Behar with a heritage value have been lying idle,” Ghosh said.

During his interaction with the workers of the press, Ghosh learnt that other than printing question papers of two or three local schools, the press has no other work. Printing of government documents had stopped long ago.

The Cooch Behar Heritage Society had for quite some time been demanding the preservation of the 100-year-old building and the machines and furniture inside along with modernisation of the press to make it viable.

In 1949, Cooch Behar was merged with India and in 1950 it turned into a district of West Bengal. From then, the Cooch Behar State Press came to be known as West Bengal Government Press, the secretary of the heritage society Aroopjyoti Majumder said.

Maharaja Narendra Narayan of Cooch Behar took the initiative to first install the press in 1859.

After completing his education in Krishnagar and Calcutta, he had brought some hand printing machines and some type letters to install the press.

When Narendra Narayan died in 1863, his son Nripendra Narayan was only 10 months old.

The British government then appointed Colonel Haughton as the commissioner of Cooch Behar.

He shifted the Cooch Behar State Press to Jalpaiguri in 1868.

In 1875, the press was shifted to the north bank of Sagardighi in Cooch Behar town.

After an earthquake in 1897, the press was brought back to the Cooch Behar palace premises.

In 1929, the press was installed in the eastern corner of Bhabanibazar and has been there since.

During the period of the Raj, the press used to print government books, records, gazettes and some periodicals like Cooch Behar Darpan, Cooch Behar Barta, Sukatha and Paricharika.

Official sources said the building housing the press needed immediate renovation to maintain its heritage quality.

The old machines, which are now stored in a strong room, also need proper care and preservation.

When the government press was installed here, a superintendent was recruited for its supervision. But later the superintendent started operating from Calcutta and a deputy superintendent was posted here.

“The press needs modernisation immediately. Even though two offset machines had been installed, the employees virtually have no work,” an official source said.

According to the deputy superintendent of the press R.S. Das, the government has to spend nearly Rs 6 lakh per month to pay its 72 employees.