Government e-Marketplace (GeM), an online portal developed by the Central Government to ensure transparency and quality in government-related procurement, has awarded Chhattisgarh for being a top buyer of this platform.
The award was given at a national workshop of Centre and State governments in New Delhi recently.
Chhattisgarh Chief Secretary Ajay Singh received the award at the hands of Quality Council of India Chairman Adil Zainulbhai and Union Commerce Secretary Rita A Teaotia.
The award was given for making a purchase of more than Rs 15 crore through the online portal by the Chhattisgarh labour department. Chhattisgarh has so far made a purchase of Rs 391 crore using Government e-Marketplace (GeM) and has saved Rs 47 crore.
Addressing the workshop, Chhattisgarh Chief Secretary Ajay Singh said that the new public procurement portal has helped in making the procurement process faster, getting good quality products and eliminating the loopholes in the procedure.
Sharing the experience of Chhattisgarh, he said the labour department of the state has made a bulk purchase of swing machines and bicycles in a transparent manner using Government e-Marketplace (GeM)
He also gave various suggestions for improvement of GeM such as better customer care services, developing proper tagging facility and mentioning technical parameters in rating framework.
Chhattisgarh Resident Commissioner Sanjay Ojha, Industry department Secretary Kamalpreet Singh, CSIDC Managing Director Sunil Mishra, Special Secretary V K Chablani, OSD Maninder Kaur Dwivedi and other officials were present at the meeting.