It was with the press of a button that Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda set rolling the state-of-the-art printing facility of The Indian Express at its newly-built Sector 6 office in Panchkula this evening.

Shaking hands with the printing engineer who presented him with the first copy of Chandigarh Empowered supplement that rolled out, the CM gave it a once over and proceeded to put his imprint on a corner.

Congratulating The Indian Express, he said: “I feel very good today. I am glad the set-up is in Haryana. Anyone who works here will always be successful. “As everyone around smiled, the CM added: “Panchkula is better than Chandigarh.’’

The printing facility is part of the Express Group’s technology modernisation plan under its Imprinting Empowerment Series launched recently.

Hooda was accompanied by Haryana Deputy CM Chander Mohan, Power Minister Venod Sharma, and Minister of State for Forest and Tourism Kiran Choudhary, among others.

Giving a pat to the Express, Kiran Choudhary said: “It’s a tremendous job The Indian Express has done. I congratulate the newspaper and hope the people of Haryana and Punjab benefit from this.’’

The new press got rolling with the lighting of the lamp by Hooda and CEO and Editor-in-Chief of The Indian Express Shekhar Gupta, among others. Outside, the Chandigarh Police band played a rousing number as a host of VIPs glided down the red carpet.

While the IE empowerment programme focuses on empowering people through information and insight, the Imprinting Empowerment series is a leap forward through technological advancement.

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