Lucknow, Jan, 20(UNI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has managed to curb corruption that was prevalent in all the departmental purchases in the state during Samajwadi Party and Bashujan Samaj Party governments by mandating all purchases by government departments and their subordinate institutions through GeM portal.
After the formation of the BJP government in the state in 2017, a government order mandated the purchases by the government departments and their subordinate institutions through GeM portal. The process reflected the transparency as well as eliminating the human interface in the purchases naturally diminishing the chances of corruption.
The departmental purchases through the GeM portal in UP was Rs 602 crore in the financial year 2017-18 and it increased to Rs 1674 Crore in 2018-19. In the financial year 2019-20, it was Rs 2401 crore and in this current financial year 2020-21, a total of Rs 2500 crore has been purchased till December. In this way, the departments have purchased more than Rs 7177 crore from the GeM portal in the last four years.
'The CM's policy of zero tolerance for corruption is crystal clear. The government is committed to end corruption completely and its efforts are also being appreciated at the national level,' said Navneet Sehgal, additional chief secretary, MSME here on Wednesday.
The Indian Industries Association (IIA) also feels that the GeM portal is very beneficial for the government and entrepreneurs.
'Bringing transparency in government departmental procurement and thus ending corruption is also exemplary for other states. The aim of the government was that the MSMEs get the right rates without any corruption and the right people participate,' said Pankaj Gupta, chairman of IIA.
None of the earlier governments dared to take such a decision and every year, crores of rupees were illegally taken as commission in the name of government purchases. The MSME department has been made the nodal department and it has formed a Project Management Unit (PMU) team of GeM portal.
The central government has also honoured the state government with the Best Buyer Award in 2018 and Super Buyer Award in 2019. At present, UP is the first state to make the most purchases through the GeM portal at the national level.
Till December of the Financial year 2020-21, 71,814 sellers are registered with the GeM portal and out of which 26,029 are MSMEs. Purchasing from the GeM portal is the priority of the government and through the portal, the purchase for the departments has been made transparent and economical.
Besides products, manpower outsourcing, taxi, cleaning services, etc, are also being taken from the GeM portal from many departments and the portal has a wide range of diverse goods and services with suppliers and vendors.
GeM is a Government e-Marketplace that was started with an objective to transform the legacy procurement system in India. Over 70,000 vendors are registered on this portal. Being a one-stop portal, it facilitates the online procurement of common goods and services required by various Government Departments, Organisations, and PSUs.
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