2 NREGA women labourers dies, 8 hospitalized as tractor ran over them in Nabha’s village

A tragic tractor accident under MGNREGA in Punjab claimed two lives and injured several workers during a cleaning project. The incident is under investigation, with the tractor driver in custody, as evidence is being collected.

PATIALA: In a tragic incident on Wednesday, two women labourers working under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) lost their lives, while eight others sustained injuries after a tractor ran over them in a village located in the Nabha division of Patiala district , Punjab. The deceased have been identified as Daropati Devi, 56, from Himmatpur village, and Jarnail Kaur, 58, from Tunga village. The injured workers include Surjit Kaur, Karamjit Kaur, Jaswant Kaur, Sarabjit Kaur, Sukhvinder Kaur, and Gurdev Kaur. The incident occurred in the morning when the labourers were marking their attendance for the project near Hasanpur and Tunga villages. According to a witness, the tractor, driven by a migrant worker, was supposed to deliver paddy saplings to another village. "Our attendance was being marked at the roadside of Tunga village after which we were supposed to leave for Dittupur village. We were asked to carry out a cleaning project under NREGA for which attendance was being marked and a number of female workers were present at the site when a tractor being driven by a migrant worker had run over us," said Gurmeet Kaur, an NREGA worker from Himmatpura village. The station house officer of Sadar Nabha police station stated that an investigation into the incident was underway, and the statements of the injured were being recorded to register the case. The accused tractor driver has been apprehended, and more information and evidence about the incident are being collected.