VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh government today said e-procurement is mandatory for all government departments and public sector organisations in the state.

"E-procurement is mandatory on the part of all government departments and public sector organisations in their purchases and auctions," the state Information Technology Minister P Raghunatha Reddy said.The minister was speaking after inaugurating the upgraded version of e-procurement system at the Department of Information Technology, Electronics and Communications here.Reddy said e-procurement brings transparency and reduces the cost of operation of the government departments.Explaining the process, he said suppliers and bidders in government departments must submit all tenders only through the e-procurement portal, besides making the payments online."In the last financial year, the state government departments conducted a whopping 43,055 transactions to the tune of Rs 17,247 crore via e-procurement," he said.State IT department Secretary Pradyumna said the IT department is preparing to launch an advanced version of 'Mee Seva' app to provide all government services through telephone."He said the application presently provides about 300 services which would be soon made available via phone.Pradyumna further said payments under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and all social security pensions would be made through 'e-Pragati' soon.