Cong targets govt over ‘graft’ in e-market portal

Releases letters by 6 BJP MPS to Commerce ministry; in reply to MP, govt says question of irregularities does not arise

THE CONGRESS has released letters by six BJP MPS and an Assam legislator who have said “technicalandproceduralshortcomings” in the Government emarketplace, a portal for goods and services required by central and state governments, has made it a “hub of corrupt practices” causing huge financial losses to buyers and the government.

Congress communications department head Randeep Surjewala said on Friday that the MPS had, in letters to Commerce Ministernirmalasitharaman,said the portal “is creating corruption, lacks mechanism to act against defaulters, is being used or can be used by a handful of people to mintmoneyandthatproductsare being bought at prices more than the rate contract .... ”

Identical letters written by Muzaffarpur MP Ajay Nishad and Gadchiroli-chimur MP Ashok M Nete said the GEM was launched “to bring transparency in the government procurement process” but inherent technical and procedural problems “have made the existing GEM portal a hub of corrupt practices for sellers and buyers.”

The MPS said “there are many cases of irregularities wherein officials have taken advantage of technical and procedural gaps of the GEM”.

The letters said: “From the above facts, it is clear that certain individuals... are trying their level best to escape with irregularities causing corruption and a huge loss to the exchequer.”

With loopholes in the GEM portal, “no accountability of DGS&D officials for misuse of the GEM process by sellers and buyers and absence of a process to determine reasonable prices of products, the magnitude of corruption could be of crores in coming weeks and months,” the MPS added.

The Directorate General of Supplies&disposal(dgs&d)was responsible for procurement of goodsforthegovernmentbutwill be wound up by October 31 and only the GEM, a special purpose vehicle, will operate after that.

When The Indian Express contacted Nishad, he said he had written the letter and received a reply from the Commerce Minister that said “the question of irregularities in the GEM does not arise owing to its transparent and completely online nature”.

The reply said: “Entire audit trail is available on GEM in respect of any procurement. Apart from this, feedback from both buyers and sellers are captured online through a feedback system as well as through helpdesks to make it more advanced, efficient and user-friendly.”

The letter by Basti MP Harish Dwivedi said there were lacunae in the project and there was a need to make the GEM more transparent. Mohanlalganj MP Kaushal Kishore raised similar points. Letters were also sent by Bhopal MP Alok Sanjar, Sitapur MP Rajesh Verma and AIUDF’S Karimganj MP Radheshyam Biswas.

Surjewala said the MPS had given instances when products were procured at prices more than the rate contract. He said small office paper shredders, priced at Rs 5,695 in a private ecommerce portal, was procured by the government at Rs 7,638. Laptops priced at Rs 30,980 in a private e-commerce portal, were procured at Rs 35,399. “We are not saying this. These are examples given by the MPS in their letters,” he said.

The Congress demanded a probe into the whole affair saying it is a test for Prime Minister Narendra Modi who always says he will not let corruption take place.