Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s relentless pursuit to root out corruption in the state has started paying off as in the last four-and-a-half years of his tenure, the government departments have purchased items worth Rs 8,940 crore though Government e-Market (GeM) portal, ensuring total transparency in the dealings.

The Urban Development department has topped with purchase of items worth Rs 3,190 crore, followed by the Health and Family Welfare department which bought items worth Rs 2,720 crore through the GeM portal and the Basic Education department which made purchases worth Rs 830 crore.

The Urban Development department also hired manpower worth Rs 2,600 crore through outsourcing.

Besides, the Medical Education department, Home department, Information and Public Relations department,  Skill Development Mission, Food and Logistics department, General Administration department and  Rural Development department purchased items worth Rs 791 crore, 632 crore, 404 crore, Rs 352 crore, Rs 314 crore, Rs 294 crore and Rs 243 crore, respectively, through the GeM portal.

It is worth mentioning here that there are 12,847 government buyers and 2,21,450 sellers on the portal, including 62,973 micro and small entrepreneurs. In the last four-and-a-half years, government departments have placed 5,86,651 orders worth Rs 13,597 crore through this portal.

The GeM portal was launched by the Central government in August, 2016, but the previous Samajwadi Party government shied away from implementing it. However, when Yogi Adityanath took over, he made GeM and Trade Receivables Discounting System (TRADES) portals mandatory in August, 2017 for sale of industrial goods in government departments.

Uttar Pradesh has made the highest procurement through GeM portal for the third year in a row. The state was honoured earlier by the Central government with Best Buyer Award in 2018 and Super Buyer Award in 2019.