Exhibition of 75 CPSEs, CEOs Conclave, Series of events mark AKAM Mega Week

Gandhinagar: Under 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' (AKAM) week celebrations of the Ministry of Finance from June 6 – 12, the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), with the support of CPSEs and in association with SCOPE and FICCI, held the AKAM Mega Show from June 9 – 12 at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar. It comprised of an exhibition on 'Nation Building and CPSEs', CEOs Roundtable on 'Role of CPSEs in Self-reliant India'; a series of workshops, cultural programmes and mind teaser quizzes to commemorate the 75 years of the independence.

Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman and Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendrabhai Patel inaugurated the exhibition. The other dignitaries who joined the Chief Guests were Ali R Rizvi, Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises; Pankaj Joshi, Additional Chief Secretary to CM, Government of Gujarat, SK Jain, Joint Secretary, DPE, Soma Mondal, Chairperson, SCOPE and Chairman, SAIL and Amitabh Banerjee, Chairman, SCOPE AKAM Committee and CMD, IRFC, besides the CEOs, Directors and other officials of Central and State Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) under various Ministries/ Departments. The event was also virtually attended by other officials of CPSEs from 75 locations across the country.

CSR workshop

A workshop on "Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) with Special focus on Aspirational Districts" was organized. Dr. Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, Hon'ble Minister of State for Finance, Government of India graced the event and inaugurated the workshop on 10th June 2022. Shri Rajesh K. Chaudhry, Special Secretary, DPE gave the welcome address. Workshop was joined by more than 200 participants from CPSEs, Aspirational Districts, State Governments and NGOs. On the same day, an outreach on Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) System for performance evaluation of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) was also conducted.

Finance Minister inaugurates BEL's Mini Smart colony

Similarly, two more workshops were conducted on 11th June, 2022 on "Public Procurement with a special focus on vendor interface with the Micro & Small Enterprises (MSE)" and "Procurement by CPSEs with Special focus on Vendor Interface with GeM". These workshop provided vendor interface with CPSEs in which the issues and suggestions on public procurement, TReDs portal, GeM features, etc. were deliberated. The live workshop of public procurement was also virtually joined by participants from five different locations, like Mumbai, Kolkata, Kochi, Chennai and Guwahati. There were more 800 participants in the two workshops and around 1000 viewers also watched it on YouTube and Facebook.

The celebrations also included the inauguration of conversion of 2 townships of CPSEs, viz., NTPC, Solapur and BEL, Bangalore as Mini Smart Cities. In total 27 townships by 15 CPSEs were converted as mini-Smart Cities as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations.

75 PSUs exhibit their contribution to nation-building

While the exhibition had on display stalls by 75 Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) demonstrating their contribution to nation-building and their future directions, a flurry of cultural programmes, including Kalbeliya from Rajasthan, Garba Raas from Gujarat, Bumrasia from Haryana and Langa Folk songs, to name a few enthralled the visitors. Popular radio jockeys, kept the visitors engaged through interactive entertainment sessions. Noted quizmaster Shri Sanjay Chakraborty also participated in the exhibition and organised a quiz festival on heritage, culture, business, brands and facts of incredible India. During the week, a free shuttle services wree also arranged from 10 -12th June, 2022 to ferry the public.

The exhibition attracted an overwhelming response from citizens, public representatives, NGOs, community organisations, industry, academia, and students, among others, and was the event's biggest attraction. In all, more than 4000 visitors participated in the exhibition.

(PSU Watch– India's Business News centre that places the spotlight on PSUs, Bureaucracy, Defence and Public Policy is now on Google News. Click here to follow. Also, join PSU Watch Channel in your Telegram. You may also follow us on Twitter here and stay updated.)