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Sangrur’s Alisher village, with around 1,200 voters, has settled into a silence difficult to describe. The village appeared deserted after the accident on Sunday, with most of its residents at the protest site on the highway, barely a kilometre away.

At the accident site, an Insaaf Committee comprising representatives of several labour and farmers’ organisations has launched a dharna and blocked the state highway.

The committee is also demanding Rs 50 lakh compensation for each deceased worker’s family, one government job per family and Rs 20 lakh for each injured worker.

At the roadside remained the wrecked car and crushed two-wheelers. Near the mangled vehicles were objects — a steel tiffin, a crushed aluminium bucket, and some agricultural spades — telling the story of an ordinary workday interrupted without warning.

On Sunday, around 2.45 pm, 40-year-old Jeevan Singh stopped his motorcycle along the Sangrur-Jakhal road to meet his mother, Banto Kaur. She was clearing roadside bushes for horticultural work, under the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G).

Banto was among 23 workers taking a break to drink water in small paper cups from the same aluminium bucket. Jeevan, while still sitting on his motorcycle, joined them.

Nearby, stood the moped of 65-year-old Des Raj, another worker, with the steel tiffin beside it.

Minutes later, a speeding car rammed into the workers, killing eight and leaving several others injured. The water bucket was crushed, the two-wheelers lay mangled on the roadside, and the tiffin that had carried a worker’s meal became part of the debris.

Jeevan’s mother survived but is critical at Rajindra Medical Hospital in Patiala; he was among the eight killed.

At Ranjit Kaur’s modest kutcha house, bricks lie stacked in the courtyard for a new room that will now have to wait for its intended occupant.

Ranjit, in her 60s, had four daughters and two sons, and her husband died a few years ago. She worked under VB-G RAM G to support her family, and her son, employed on contract with the Punjab Roadways department, was preparing for a new chapter in his life.

One of Ranjit’s daughters, Manwinder Kaur, said the family was planning to build a new room for Shivji, one of the sons, who got engaged last month. Manwinder sat on the mud-floored verandah, pointing towards the brick pile.

For another family, the memory of the last morning together is equally painful.

The 40-year-old Manjit Kaur had prepared aloo paranthas for her son, daughter and husband, Tarsem Singh, before leaving for work around 8 am.

Tarsem said, “It was Sunday, but labourers don’t have holidays… I asked her to cook my favourite dal in the evening. Who knew that the parantha would be my last meal from her hands?”.

For the two sons and daughter of Karamjit Kaur, 35, the loss remains unexplained. Their father, Jagsir Singh, a daily wager, was trying to make them drink water at the protest site even as he grappled with his own grief. Karamjit, wife of Sukhwinder Khan, was also among those killed. Sarabjeet Begum, 35, had adopted a daughter a few years ago. The eight-year-old is now left without her mother, while Begum’s husband, Sonu Khan, struggles to absorb the loss.

Nikki Kaur (33) was another worker who died in the accident. Her husband, Kulwant Ram, is a daily wager himself. “Had we been well off, she would not have been working under VB-G RAM G for Rs 325 a day, that too for fewer than 100 days a year,” Kulwant said.

The tragedy has now become a fight for compensation, accountability and safer working conditions.

The demands presented by the Insaaf Committee go beyond the state’s announcement of Rs 2 lakh for each deceased person’s family and free medical treatment for the injured.

President of the Zameen Prapti Sangharsh Committee Mukesh Malaud asked, “Compensation of Rs 2 lakh is provided under the VB-G RAM G Act if a person dies while on duty. That is under the central government’s policy. What is the Punjab government doing to help these families?”

Bikkar Singh Hathoa of the Zameen Prapti Sangharsh Committee said, “Many may not be able to do strenuous work in the future. They need support beyond immediate compensation.”

The administration offered Rs 5 lakh to each deceased worker’s family, without a government job, but talks failed to yield an agreement, said Megh Raj, a member of the Democratic Teachers Front.

The committee has also sought five-marla residential plots for the families of the deceased and injured workers. It has demanded an independent inquiry into the accident, action against officials found responsible for administrative negligence, and arrangements for providing VB-G RAM G work within villages. Members of the committee have said post-mortem examinations and cremations would not be allowed until their demands were accepted.

The car was allegedly being driven by Pargat Singh, alias Kala, of Ratreana village, located around 12 km from the accident site. He was travelling with a few family members and a minor child.

Villagers suspect that the driver may have been under the influence of an intoxicant. The allegations, however, have not been established. The car is still parked on the roadside near the dharna spot.

On Monday, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema and Lehragaga MLA and minister Barinder Kumar Goyal visited injured workers at hospitals in Sangrur and Patiala.