The Congress alleged a scam in state-owned portal Government e Marketplace and said the corruption has been flagged by a union minister and eight BJP lawmakers in a communication to commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
According to Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, minister of state for health Faggan Singh Kulaste and eight BJP lawmakers including Kaushal Kishore, Ajay Nishad, Harish Dwivedi and Arjun Lal Meena have in separate letters to the commerce minister alleged that the GeM (Government e Market Place Portal) has massive irregularities and runs a scam.
The Congress released copies of the letters in support of its allegations.
Elaborating further, Surjewala said that if rates from private online portals like Snapdeal/Amazon are compared, the rate at which deals are made through GeM portal is much higher.
"When we buy from GeM portal, the rates are more than rate contract?the government bears a loss of crores of rupees," said Surjewala.
For instance, a small office paper shredder, model H8CDK purchased by the office of regional director, BCAS, Delhi, showed a price of Rs 7,638 on GEM while it was available on Snapdeal portal for Rs 5,695.
Similarly, a toner cartridge HP8A model CE278A purchased by ministry of statistics, New Delhi, was bought for Rs 3,142 from GeM but was available on Snapdeal for Rs 2,199. The Congress cited other examples of rate differentials in purchases made by various state governments through the GeM portal.
A comparison of prices between the government-owned portal and the private one on April 3 between 12 to 2 pm showed that Sony 32 inches LED Bravia KLV TV model 32R302D listed on GeM for Rs 30,500 was available on Amazon for Rs 23,000.
In his letter dated March 2, 2017, union minster Kulaste urged the commerce minister to consider a complaint received from Anuj Pandep GM Sales of HCL Infosystems Ltd regarding discontinuation of rate contracts by director general of supply and disposal DGS&D against General Financial Rules and procurement manual of the finance ministry.
According to the GeM portal, DGS&D is tasked primarily with fixing Rate Contracts (RC) for common user items required by various government organizations through an online e-procurement portal. Presently, it is being managed by two organized Group 'A' Services namely Indian Supply Service and Indian Inspection Service. DGS&D Rate Contracts are used by central government ministries and departments, PSUs and state governments.
The GeM portal, which offers a variety of products and services, mentions 2,251 buyers, 5,377 sellers and 167 service providers listed with it.
