Government e Marketplace (GeM) to streamline Govt procurement: Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu

ITANAGAR: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Monday informed that more than 26,000 government agencies have been incorporated in the Government e Marketplace (GeM) including above one lakh onboard with more than Rs 10,500 crore transactions having taken place so far in the country.

Launching the nation-wide mission for promotion of GeM here at the Legislative Assembly complex, he said the mission aimed at bringing in more transparency and streamlining the government procurement.

Khandu said the objective of the launch is to accelerate the adoption and use of GeM by State government and its agencies.

CM Pema Khandu said Arunachal is the sixth State in India to have signed MoUs with GeM, which aims to bring in transparency, efficiency and inclusiveness in public procurement and achieve cashless, contactless and paperless transaction.

The Chief Minister said the national drive from September 6 to October 15, is aimed at creating awareness about GeM, train the buyers and sellers, get them registered in GeM and increase the procurement through GeM.

Khandu said the State government has adopted zero tolerance towards corruption and the launch of GeM and the recent reforms on recruitment process is aimed at achieving that.

CM Pema Khandu said government offices in the State are plagued by corruption mainly in recruitment and procurement process, which diverts enormous amount of the department’s time and effort from its core activities. It also took toll on wellness and health condition of the employees, as they have to face immense pressure from powerful lobby for giving away undue advantage to them.

“With adoption of Arunachal Pradesh Staff Selection Board and GeM, the officers and employees of the government departments will be relieved from recruitment and procurement activity taking away excessive work pressure from them,” the Chief Minister said.

“The objective of the reform is to give happy and healthy life to its citizens and several reforms aimed at ensuring efficiency and transparency under digital Arunachal programme such as launch of e-office, CM dashboard, e-ILP, e-cabinet in the last two years has been initiated,” Khandu disclosed.

He further said the Ministry of Commerce has rolled out state export strategy for creating export infrastructure with 80 per cent subsidy for Northeastern states, which will benefit the farmers in the State.

The Chief Minister added that to improve digital connectivity in the state the work on Rs 1700 crore project sanctioned by Ministry of Communication is already underway.