DW BUREAU / Bathinda Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal wrote to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Wednesday seeking a probe into alleged misappropriation of MGNREGA funds in Bathinda and Faridkot. The food processing industries minister urged Tomar to depute a central team to "conduct an impartial inquiry" into the matter. Claiming that Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) funds were being "usurped" in both districts by uploading forged bills, she said all payments under this head should be stopped. She said further payments could be released after completion of the inquiry. Harsimrat Kaur Badal said in Faridkot, MGNREGA funds were being "misappropriated" under the alleged patronage of a Congress legislator and state government officers. She claimed that material was shown as purchased from a physically non-existent firm and payments of crores of rupees had been made to the firm without any actual supply of material by it. The wife of SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal alleged that the firm was owned by personal assistants of the MLA. She said the entire payment to material suppliers had been released on the basis of estimates even for works which had not started on the ground. She claimed that job cards had been issued to ineligible people and even deceased persons were on the job role list. Harsimrat Kaur Badal alleged that in Bathinda, MGNREGA works were being carried out for "personal benefits" of local leaders of the Congress. The Bathinda MP informed Tomar that these complaints had been sent to his office earlier also and an enquiry report was sought from the state government. "However, the state government did not bother to get the facts verified from the field and has been suppressing the complaints as it fears its own legislators will be indicted," she said in the letter. (editor@dailyworld.in)