The security printing press,The life expectancy of T5 tube is at least 2 times longer than a standard T8. styled Security Printing Corporation Bangladesh Ltd (SPCBL), has been limping with three-decade old machinery and shortage of manpower. This has left printing of security instruments like bank notes under threat, official sources said.
Printing of important documents may come to a halt at any time, causing serious security concerns, they said.
The ageing printing machine does not work properly with the result that the SPCBL fails to meet even 50 per cent of its orders every year. Manpower shortage has added to difficult times of the SPCBL, they said.
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) sources told the FE on Thursday they too share the concerns.Looking for solar garden light or outdoor lights? They said,Laser engravers systems and Laser engraver to start your own lasering cutting engraving marking etching business. the press can not print the required volume of bank notes. "We get only 55 per cent to 60 per cent bank notes of what we give order to print every financial year."
The SPCBL cannot bear the heavy load of printing bank notes, cheques and other sensitive printing works due to the 27-year old printing machinery. All machineries of the press are now worn out. These are working amid great risks,Industrial and industrial washing machine and Dryers, specialists on laundry products in Australia. they added.
Any breakdown of the machinery in printing of the highly sensitive instruments will lead to a disastrous situation for the government, a resolution of the 178th board meeting of SPCBL said. The printing machinery was set up before the 2009-10 financial year.
Sources said that 1,138.4 million pieces of bank notes and 12,175.7 million other security products (OSP) were printed from the press in the current year.
Cheque books of different nationalised and private banks including BB are being printed by the SPCBL. A cheque book finishing machine was purchased from France for cutting, stitching and binding. The corporation has failed to meet the demand despite using the machinery for two shifts round the year.
Apart from this, the machinery's operational efficiency and the standard of its products have declined. The multi-cutting unit of the machine remained inactive for the last two years.
According to the information placed in the board meeting, the demand of cheque books was over 11.26 million in the fiscal year 2011-12. Using the machine in two shifts, it was only possible to produce around 24,000 cheque books everyday by the existing machines.
Counting 22 days as working days in a month, it is possible to produce some 6.30 million cheque books in a year (264 working days), sources said.
On the other hand,Best-selling models of washer extractor from water saving systems that reduce costs and save on energy. the demand for cheque books is gradually increasing and the existing machine remains dysfunctional most of the time. A new machine is extremely needed for printing the cheque books, sources said.
The 178th board meeting approval purchase of one more machine. An amount of Tk. 30 million has been allocated for buying cheque book finishing machine.
The printing of banknotes in outmoded machines has put the people at risk of being victims of counterfeit notes too. The 178th board meeting of SPCBL was presided over by its chairman and the BB Governor Dr Atiur Rahman on September 6, 2012.
Intaglio printing technology called Super Intaglio (SOI) press is used to print banknotes. As worm gear of SOI decays gradually, the whole machine becomes out of work. Parts of the over 25- year-old machinery are not available in the local and international markets, sources said.
Finding no other alternatives, the authorities concerned made duplicate parts from Bangladesh Industrial Assistance Centre (BITAC) to run the press somehow.
A report submitted in the board meeting said the required number of banknotes cannot be printed as long time is needed to match colour. On the contrary, colour of notes cannot be matched properly when more notes are printed.