Sangrur Road Accident: Eight MGNREGA Workers Killed as Speeding Car Hits Roadside Crew Near Lehragaga; Driver Booked, Protest Ends After Rs 10 Lakh Assurance

What happened

On the afternoon of Sunday, 18 October 2026, a speeding car ran into a group of rural-employment workers who were resting by the roadside on the Lehragaga–Jakhal road, near Alisher village in Sangrur district, Punjab. Eight people died, according to the Deputy Commissioner, the Chief Minister and PTI. Reports put the time anywhere from about 2.45 p.m. (The Indian Express) to 5.30 p.m. (Punjabi Tribune, The Tribune). Hindustan Times, describing the FIR, says about 3.40 p.m., and one report quotes the work supervisor saying it was the afternoon.

The workers were part of a crew of about two dozen enrolled under the rural job scheme, which several reports still call MGNREGA and which PTI names the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin), or VB-G RAM G. The supervisor told Punjabi Tribune that he had marked attendance for 24 workers that morning, 22 women and two men, most of them older women. Other reports say 23 or 25. They had been clearing grass or planting trees along the road, and many were sitting at the edge of the carriageway for a water break when the car came from the Jakhal side. An injured worker told ANI, “We were sitting on the road and drinking water when a car rammed into us.” An eyewitness told The Tribune that the car first hit a motorcycle and then turned towards the group. Some villages are named differently in different reports: Alisher is the home village of most victims, while Chotian and Pende are nearby places also mentioned as the spot.

Car, not truck. Every report we opened describes a car. India TV and LatestLY name a Chevrolet Magnum with a Punjab registration; PTI and The Tribune say only “car”. Early posts online called it a truck, but we found no reliable report that says so, so this page does not use that word.

The people

Eight deaths are confirmed by Sangrur Deputy Commissioner Poonamdeep Kaur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann (on X) and PTI. Punjabi Tribune, India.com, PTC News and LatestLY (quoting Punjab News Express) reported nine. We have used eight, the official figure, and flag the difference. SP Palwinder Singh Cheema said five died at the spot and three later in hospital. Cabinet Minister Barinder Goyal said six of the eight dead were women, some with children aged one or two at home (The Tribune). A village panchayat member told one reporter that a motorcyclist who had come to pick up his mother was also among the dead; it is not clear whether he is counted in the eight. The victims were mostly from Alisher and nearby villages. The reports name them, but we are not repeating the names here, out of respect for the families.

Twelve people were injured, according to PTI and the Deputy Commissioner. The Tribune counted 13, and Amar Ujala said more than 11. After first aid at Lehragaga, the injured were sent to the Government Hospital in Sangrur (seven patients, reported stable), Sunam, and Rajindra Hospital in Patiala (four or five, depending on the report). Bodies were taken to the Civil Hospital in Sangrur and to Sunam and Munak.

Response and investigation

Police said the driver left the car at the spot and ran away. SP Palwinder Singh Cheema said he had been identified, and named him as Pargat Singh, also called Kala, of Raidhrana village. The Chief Minister said on X that the accused would be arrested soon. The Tribune, in a report updated on 19 October, said no arrest had been made and that raids were on. Reports differed on the arrest at first. Hindustan Times and DY365 (19 October) quote the SP saying he had been arrested, and Munsif Daily says police took him into custody, while The Tribune and Update Punjab, both on 19 October, reported no arrest. By 20 October, Hindustan Times and The Indian Express, both citing police, said he was arrested or apprehended on Sunday night, hours after the crash. The Indian Express adds that he was travelling with a few family members and a minor child, and Hindustan Times quotes the SP saying the car was seized for forensic examination. We found no court or remand report, so please read the arrest as police-reported. The Tribune also said the car was reportedly registered to a man named Pargat Singh of Patiala, which does not match the village given elsewhere. Reports first differed on the FIR. Oneindia (18 October) quotes the SP saying an FIR had been filed. DY365 (19 October) quotes him saying one would be registered once the injured and the families gave statements. Punjab News Express said villagers alleged that no case had been registered. An FIR has since been registered, according to Hindustan Times and The Indian Express (both 20 October). Both give the same Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections: 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 117(2) (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) and 324(4) (mischief causing damage). The Indian Express says it was registered on Monday on the complaint of a relative of one of the workers. An AIMA Media report of 20 October had quoted the SSP saying action would follow once the family filed an FIR. Rozana Spokesman quotes the Sangrur SSP, Ravjot Grewal, saying police would act under law if evidence of other offences or drug use came up; that is not a finding. The complaint, as described by Hindustan Times, says the driver got out of the car visibly under the influence of drugs, and villagers told The Indian Express they suspect an intoxicant. The SSP told AIMA Media that a drug link is a matter for investigation, and SP Cheema said the required tests would follow the standard procedure. No test result has been published, so this is an allegation and not a finding, and police have not stated a cause beyond speed.

The Chief Minister announced Rs 2 lakh for the family of each person killed and free treatment for the injured; on 21 October the administration said this would be raised to Rs 10 lakh (see below). Update Punjab and Babushahi (both 19 October) report that ministers Barinder Goyal and Dr Balbir Singh announced Rs 50,000 for each injured worker. It is not in the Chief Minister’s post, so we treat it as the ministers’ announcement, reported by two outlets. The same reports quote the ministers saying the injured at Rajindra Hospital were improving and out of danger, and Hindustan Times quotes Minister Cheema saying their condition was stable. The Indian Express, however, says one injured woman is critical at Rajindra Hospital. Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema and Barinder Goyal visited the injured in Sangrur and Patiala. Goyal also ordered a departmental inquiry into possible negligence by officials (The Tribune). Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and opposition leaders expressed condolences; Congress MP Amarinder Singh Raja Warring asked for strict action and adequate compensation.

Villagers sat on a dharna on the road, and an “Insaaf Committee” was formed with a member from each bereaved family, workers’ union members and local activists. Punjabi Tribune reported on 20 October that it demanded a government job for one member of each family, Rs 50 lakh for each bereaved family and Rs 20 lakh for each injured family, better treatment, plots and free schooling for the children, and said the bodies would not be cremated until its demands were heard. The Tribune, in a report updated on the morning of 20 October, says the committee has rejected the Rs 2 lakh offer and will not allow post-mortems or cremations until its demands are met. It puts the demands at Rs 50 lakh for each death, Rs 20 lakh for each injured person, a government job for one member of each family and free education for the children of those killed. Minister Barinder Goyal said the government remained open to talks on compensation. On 20 October, Sangrur Deputy Commissioner Poonamdeep Kaur, Patiala Range DIG Kuldeep Chahal and SSP Ravjot Kaur Grewal met the committee for about two hours at the Lehragaga block development office; Ajit reported no agreement on any demand. The Indian Express quotes a committee member saying the administration offered Rs 5 lakh to each family without a government job, and Hindustan Times (21 October) quotes the committee’s president saying officials spoke of help up to Rs 10 lakh and that a case for a government job had been sent. Those are the committee’s accounts, not an official offer. On the morning of 21 October the Deputy Commissioner told Hindustan Times that talks were continuing, that the demands can be considered only under the rules, and that the administration had moved a case with the Chief Minister’s relief fund for higher compensation. The deadlock ended that day. Hindustan Times reports that the families and the action committee called off the protest on Wednesday, 21 October, after the administration said the government had accepted their demands. Deputy Commissioner Poonamdeep Kaur said the state had agreed to raise compensation from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh for the family of each worker who died and for those seriously injured, that people with minor injuries would get Rs 2 lakh with all their treatment free, and that the demand for five-marla plots had been accepted, with the sarpanch to pass a resolution to complete the process. Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development) Sukhchain Singh Papra said family members of the dead would be taken on as daily wagers in the forest department and that the process had begun. The committee’s president confirmed the settlement and said plots would go to the families of both the dead and the injured, and that officials had promised steps for workers’ safety and well-being. We found this in one outlet only. These are assurances given by officials and the committee, and we have not seen a government order. The report does not say that the loan waiver, the independent inquiry or action against negligent officials were accepted, and the committee’s earlier demand for Rs 50 lakh per death was not met. The committee’s list now also includes five-marla plots, a loan waiver, an independent inquiry and action against officials found negligent (The Indian Express, Hindustan Times). Former finance minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa, who visited the injured, also asked for government jobs, larger compensation and an inquiry into worker safety and any delay in getting the injured to hospital (Rozana Spokesman, 19 October). Residents also alleged that the ambulance took nearly an hour to reach the spot and that this added to the deaths (The Tribune, Punjabi Jagran). Sangrur Civil Surgeon Amarjit Kaur denied this to Hindustan Times, saying three ambulances with doctors were sent from the nearest stations. No official response-time record has been published, so the delay remains an allegation.

Relatives and union members said the agency that gave the work had not followed road-safety requirements. They said the workers had no reflective jackets, and there were no warning boards, cones or barricades, and no flagman to slow traffic (The Tribune, Punjabi Tribune). These are claims by the families and unions. They have not yet been tested in an inquiry.

Why this matters

The people killed were doing ordinary government-scheme work on a village road, close to the carriageway, with no barrier between them and fast traffic. Rural job-scheme crews, farm labourers, road menders and tree planters often work and rest at the edge of roads that carry cars at 80 or 100 km an hour. The driver is clearly responsible for the crash, but the families are also asking who planned the work, where the crew was allowed to sit and what protection was provided. Punjabi Jagran’s editorial made the same point: blame should not stop at the driver.

Punjab recorded 4,829 road deaths in 2023, according to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), and across India 35,221 pedestrians were killed that year, about one in five of all road deaths. Roadside workers are in the same category of people on foot beside fast traffic. We covered a similar worksite danger in our Dwarka Expressway worksite crash case study.

Lessons

• Agencies and supervisors: plan the rest spot, not just the work. Choose a place for water and shade well away from the carriageway, behind a ditch, tree line or field edge, and tell workers never to sit on the road shoulder. The earlier MGNREGA Act itself lists drinking water, shade and first aid as worksite facilities, so these are not extras.
• Make the crew visible. Give every worker a reflective jacket or sash, place warning boards and cones well before the work area on both approaches, and post a flagman. Our guide on driving through roadworks shows what drivers should look for, and the national guidelines on work-zone traffic management (IRC:SP:55) cover signs and spacing.
• Slow traffic near villages. Where a road passes a village or a regular worksite, panchayats can ask the road-owning agency for speed breakers, rumble strips or a speed limit sign. Cars drive fastest on straight, empty village roads, which is where such crews work.
• Enforcement. Over-speeding and drunk driving are leading causes of road deaths in India. Police can place spot speed checks and breath tests on district link roads in the evening, when drivers are heading home.
• Workers: sit with your back to a field, not to the road. Take breaks on the side that is away from traffic, keep children and bags out of the carriageway, and refuse a rest spot you cannot see traffic from. Tell the mate or the gram panchayat office if the site has no markers.
• Bystanders: call 112 or 108 at once. Note the landmark, the number of injured and whether anyone is bleeding or not breathing. Do not lift or drag a person who may have a neck or back injury unless they are in danger where they lie. Press firmly on heavy bleeding with a clean cloth. Our road accident first aid guide and our witness’s safe-help guide explain what to do until the ambulance reaches. Section 134A of the Motor Vehicles Act protects a Good Samaritan who helps an injured person, and you cannot be forced to give your name or stay at the hospital.
• Families: ask for the FIR, the post-mortem report and the work-muster records. Compensation under a motor-accident claim and relief from the government are separate. A district legal services authority (DLSA) gives free legal help to the poor and to women, and a union can help file the claim.

More on Sangrur: see our fire and emergency safety guide for emergency numbers, the fire stations and the local risks to know.

What is still not known

The final toll (eight or nine), the exact time of the crash and the exact spot are not settled. The arrest is police-reported, but we found no court record of it. It is not clear who owned the car, how fast it was moving, or whether the driver was under the influence of alcohol or drugs, as the complaint alleges; no test result has been published. The departmental inquiry has not published findings on the worksite safety claims, and the ambulance timing has not been examined. The dharna ended on 21 October after officials gave the assurances described above, but we found no report that post-mortems or cremations had been carried out, and no written order on the Rs 10 lakh, the plots or the forest-department jobs. We found no report of action against the agency or officials that gave the work. Last checked: 22 October 2026, about 10.30 am IST. We will add to this page when official findings are published.