Fifteen persons, all women agriculture workers and a three-year-old accompanying his mother, were killed after the tractor they were travelling by skidded and fell into the Musi river canal near Vemulakonda village in the district on Sunday morning.
The tractor-trailer was carrying 28 people at the time of the accident, in which ten others were left with minor and blunt injuries. They were rushed to the Area Hospital at Ramannapeta for emergency care and were declared out of danger.
According to Rachakonda police, the women were hired by one Venkata Narayana, for daily work of sowing cotton seed in Nallajerla — the village outskirts where he was holding tenancy of some land. He was also driving the vehicle, and is absconding following the incident.
The vehicle with 24 women, three men and a boy had started around 9.30 a.m. from Vemulakonda village and was on its way to the fields. Ten minutes into the journey, on the mud road leading to the fields, it seems the driver lost control of the wheel and crashed into the canal.
Other officials, as suggested by the locals, believed that the driver allegedly left the wheel and was lighting his cigarette, was intoxicated, or lacked driving skills and did not hold a licence. However, a full investigation will reveal the actual causes of the accident.
Minister for Energy and SC Development G. Jagadish Reddy, local leader P. Shekar Reddy who reached the village’s primary health centre, where the post-mortem was conducted, faced the wrath of the protesting locals and relatives of the victims. While the latter demanded an ex gratia of ₹ 5 lakh and other compassionate benefits, the Minister assured ₹ 2 lakh monetary assistance, a 2BHK house, education for the victims’ children and ₹ 10,000 for performing the final rites. Mr. Shekar Reddy also promised ₹ 1 lakh assistance for each victim.
However, the angry locals couldn’t be prevented from gheraoing the leaders’ convoy for hours, despite a strong police force.
CM shocked
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao expressed shock over the ghastly accident in Nalgonda district which claimed 15 lives.
He directed the officials concerned to take up relief measures and ensure that proper medicare was provided to all the injured. The Chief Minister conveyed his condolences to the members of the bereaved families.
Energy Minister G. Jagadishwar Reddy who spoke to the Collectors of Nalgonda and Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri districts over phone asked them to rush to the spot for supervising relief works. He conveyed his sympathies to the bereaved families.
