MP: Rs 33,500 Per Litre Of Phenolic Disinfectant, Rs 11,800 For A 60-Watt Led Bulb
Viral video capturing official review meeting reveals, probe ordered: Reports
BHOPAL: A litre of phenolic disinfectant cost Rs 33,500 for an urban local body in Madhya Pradesh and a 60-watt LED bulb was purchased at Rs 11,800 by another local governing authority.
The unreasonable prices mentioned by some urban local bodies in Madhya Pradesh to purchase commodities came under scrutiny at a review meeting of the department concerned here.
A purported viral video capturing a review meeting on purchases by 374 urban bodies in Madhya Pradesh has led to this startling disclosure, leading the state government to order a probe into it.
The state government also announced that the authenticity of the video would also be verified.
The viral video showed urban administration and development department additional chief secretary Sanjay Dubey issuing a warning to the chief municipality officers (CMOs) of strong actions for the alleged irregularities in the purchase of different commodities by some urban local bodies.
“Don’t think that you get away with the wrongdoings, if committed. Everything is on my computer. I will take action in the cases of irregularities of purchases by some urban local bodies”, he was heard saying to the CMOs who attended the review meeting.
His warning followed a presentation by Anshuman Raj, additional managing director of Madhya Pradesh State Electronics Development Corporation (MPSEDC) highlighting substantial price gaps in purchases made through the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal.
The presentation highlighted how a litre of phenolic disinfectant priced at Rs five at one place whereas a similar product cost Rs 33,500 for another urban local body.
Another case of unreasonable price gap in the purchase of a 60-watt LED bulb between two urban local bodies came to the fore in the government procurement analysis.
While it was purchased at Rs 306 at one place, it was procured at Rs 11,800 in another place.
The presentation revealed that the 374 urban local bodies in the state had spent around Rs 1,134 crore on purchases through GeM portal in the last three years.
The procurement analysis estimated that a whopping sum of Rs 250 crore could have been saved had the goods been purchased at average rates.
Madhya Pradesh minister of state for urban administration and development Pratima Bagri said that the state government would probe the matter as well into the authenticity of the video.
“Action will be taken if irregularities will be found in the probe”, she said.
