Six persons, including three women NREGS workers, were buried alive in two separate incidents reported from Jagtial and Sangareddy districts on Tuesday.
In the first freak mishap, three women farm labourers engaged in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) died and six others sustained injuries when they were excavating heaps of gravel from an open well in Kusthapur village of Mallapur mandal of Jagtial district. Reports reaching here said that while the NREGS workers were excavating ravel, boulders fell on them suddenly, killing three women and injuring six others.
The deceased have been identified as Sarikela Muttamma (42), Sarikela Raju (45) and Jella Posani (42). The injured have been shifted to the Metpally government hospital for treatment and their condition is stated to be out of danger.
Officials suspended
As soon as the news reached the district headquarters, Collector A. Sharath ordered Joint Collector B Rajesham to inquire into the incident and also suspended NREGS technical assistant B Pranaya and field assistant Peda Rajanna for negligence.
In the second incident, three persons died while they were digging a three-metre-deep trench at Velimela village in Ramachandrapuram mandal of Sangareddy district.
The incident took place on Monday evening. According to police, there was a mudslide while the workers were digging the trench to a lay drainage pipeline. The victims were identified as Prakash Mahalik (20), Vikas Mahalik (21) and Manas Sahoo (21), all hailing from Odisha.
Bodies of the deceased were shifted to government hospital for post-mortem. Ramachandrapuram police registered a case and are investigating.
