Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 30: Balvinder Singh, a renowned RTI activist demanded State wise CBI probe into the purchases made through GeM by every Government Department during the last five years.
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Addressing a press conference, he said that to remove existing malpractices in the system due to buyer-seller interaction and to increase transparency and efficiency (time and cost) of procurement, Government of India brought Government e-market system on 8th December 2017 and made it mandatory for every Government Department to buy and hire services through GeM only.
Singh claimed that because of the number of shortcoming in the GeM system as on date, approximately 20 to 50 per cent commission is being involved in the transaction made through GeM.
Singh said one of his RTI filed in the Directorate of Health Jammu revealed that how a person who was made Incharge of GeM made procurements deceiving the State exchequer amounting to crores of rupees annually by purchasing items from 30 per cent to 300 per cent higher than the prevalent market rates.
He added that similar is the case with Rural Development Department JKUT whereby one very interesting revelation is made in the reply received from two BDO offices–BDO Mandal Phallian and BDO Akhnoor. Both these BDOs purchased lime powder on more than 50 to 70 percent higher rates than the prevailing market rates, he said.
Balvinder Singh said that this is the tip of the ice berg and if the said system is prevalent in other States of the country then the scam amount can go upto thousands of crores annually.
He demanded State wise CBI probe into the whole purchase made through GeM by every Government Department during the last five years.
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