New Delhi: Over 2.36 crore national flags worth over Rs 60 crore have been purchased by various government departments and states between July 1 and August 15 on GeM, an online platform for public procurement. According to official figures, these flags have been procured for the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign. The government’s e-Marketplace (GeM) was launched by the commerce ministry on August 9, 2016, to create an open and transparent procurement platform for government buyers.
Procurement can be done on this platform by all government buyers like Central and State Ministries, Departments, Public Sector Enterprises, Autonomous Institutions, and Local Bodies. PK Singh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GeM said, “Being an online platform, it has been possible for GeM to connect sellers faster and meet the huge requirements of a product that needs to be procured on such a large scale.
“We have been in constant dialogue with the procuring units to ensure that the procurement process is smooth and deliveries are made on time,” he said.
It is worth noting that on July 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given a call to strengthen the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign by hoisting the tricolor in homes. As many as 4,159 sellers had registered for the sale of the national flag on the GeM platform.
