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Lok Sabha
The payment system in the Canteen Stores Department (CSD) is transparent. The mode of payment in the CSD is clearly laid out in the terms & conditions of the supply order entered into with the suppliers. The payment is released after 30 working days, from the date of delivery of goods, subject to budgetary allocation and availability of funds. The suppliers are by and large satisfied with the time and mode of payment. The discounts to the market prices and extension of negotiated credit given by the suppliers is as per the norms of the trade. It is also keeping in view the basic aim of the CSD, that is, to make goods available to the jawans, at prices less than the market.
The CSD does not pay any interest to the suppliers for overdue payments. No case has come to notice of the Government, in the recent past, of suppliers seeking interest on overdue payments.
Payments to the suppliers are not made on discretionary basis but is by and large as per the date of delivery of goods by the supplier.
CSD has taken up a Computerization programme in which all branches of its Head Office at Mumbai, have been computerized. In the second phase, all the 35 depots of the CSD will be on line. This will enable faster linking and clearing of the bills submitted to the various depots, thereby bringing in more accountability and transparency.
The overdue payment of CSD, in the aggregate, as on Oct 01, 2004, was Rs. 298.81 crores. Continuous efforts are made to obtain full budgetary allocation to clear the outstanding dues.
The payments system in the CSD is transparent. Comptroller and Auditor General carries out regular audit of CSD through a Resident Audit Cell. The CSD is also internally audited by the office of the Controller General of Defence Accounts which helps further in the transparent functioning of the CSD.
This information was given by the Defence Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee in a written reply to Shri JM Aaron Rashid, Shri PS Gadhavi and Shri VK Thummar in Lok Sabha today.
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