CHANDIGARH: Bharatiya Janata Party Scheduled Caste Morcha Punjab vice-president Paramjit Singh Kainth on Friday welcomed Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s decision to order a high-level probe into alleged misuse of MGNREGA funds in Punjab.
Kainth said over the past few years, several MGNREGA scams have surfaced in Punjab, involving the misuse of funds through various irregularities that would not have been possible without the connivance of representatives of political parties.
Kainth claimed that for the past 10 years, corruption in the state’s Rural Development and Panchayat Departments -- often carried out by gram panchayats in collusion with officials and employees -- has hindered employment opportunities for poor families. These include creating fake job cards and collusion with contractors, creating fake payment receipts, and listing ineligible or deceased persons as beneficiaries, depriving needy MGNREGA workers of their entitlements.