Central government has asked all the states to give priority to central government procurement portal ‘Government e-Market (GeM)’ in government procurements. While reviewing the progress of different projects through PRAGATI, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal has improved transparency, and has reduced wasteful expenditure. He asked the chief secretaries of all states to give priority to GeM in government procurements.
The GeM portal was launched in August last year for online purchases of goods and services by all the central government ministries and departments. In addition to central government departments, according to PTI, as many as nine states including Uttar Pradesh and Telangana have signed a memorandum of understanding for smart procurement of goods and services. So far 23,316 sellers are registered with the portal to sell 97,935 products. Four services including tax, security and digitisation and scanning are also there on the website.
Earlier, all the purchases of goods and services of central government was handled by Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D) but government has taken the decision to shut down over 100-year-old government procurement arm. The public procurement of goods and services is now being managed by the central government e-market platform (GeM) since last year.
During his twenty-first interaction through PRAGATI, Prime Minister reviewed the progress towards handling and resolution of grievances related to patents and trademarks. He asked the officers to work towards expediting the processing of patent and trademark applications. The Prime Minister emphasised the importance of using latest available technology, to streamline the process, and reach global standards.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi also reviewed the progress of nine infrastructure projects including the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor, and construction of four new AIIMS at Manglagiri in Andhra Pradesh, Kalyani in West Bengal, Nagpur in Maharashtra, and Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh.
In addition, he reviewed the smart cities projects. He said the challenge before everyone is now to ensure implementation and expeditious completion of the work in the 90 identified cities, with high quality. Reviewing the progress of the Forest Rights Act, the Prime Minister emphasised the importance of using space technology to determine the rights of tribal communities, and settle claims expeditiously.
PRAGATI, an integrating and interactive platform aimed at addressing common man’s grievances, and simultaneously monitoring and reviewing important programmes and projects of the Government of India as well as projects flagged by state governments. The first twenty meetings of PRAGATI have seen a cumulative review of 183 projects with a total investment of Rs. 8.79 lakh crore. Resolution of Public Grievances has also been reviewed in 17 sectors.