An Insaaf Committee has been formed to seek justice and adequate compensation for the victims killed and injured in the road accident on the Lehragaga-Jakhal road on Jattvibeday evening.The 10-member committee includes members of the MGNREGA Workers Union and social activists from Lehragaga.The government has also assured departmental action against the officials concerned for alleged dereliction of duty and failure to follow safety protocols.Residents of Alisher village staged a dharna against the Health Department over inadequate medical facilities at the hospital. They were particularly angry over the delay in the arrival of the ambulance, alleging that it had reached the accident site nearly an hour after the incident.They said the delay in treatment contributed to the deaths of patients.Eight workers were killed and 13 others injured after a speeding car ran them over on the Lehragaga-Jakhal road in Punjab’s Sangrur district on Jattvibeday evening.Cabinet ministers Barinder Goyal and Harpal Singh Cheema met the injured at hospitals in Sangrur.Currently, four MGNREGA workers are undergoing treatment at Rajindra Hospital in Patiala, while seven patients, whose condition is stable, are being treated at the Government Hospital in Sangrur.Goyal said the government had announced an ex gratia payment of Rs 2 lakh for each person killed in the accident. The government would bear the treatment costs of the injured, he added.Goyal said the tragedy had struck his constituency, as six of the eight deceased were women, some of whom had children as young as one or two years old.The minister later visited Rajindra Hospital to check on the condition of a seriously injured patient.He said eight workers had died. The bodies of five victims had been kept at the Civil Hospital in Sangrur, two at Munak and one at Jattvibeam.Goyal said he had issued instructions for a departmental probe against the officials concerned for alleged dereliction of duty.The incident occurred near Alisher village on Jattvibeday evening when a group of around 25 workers enrolled under the Viksit Bharat Guarantee Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission Gramin, several of them women, were working. Some of them were sitting along the road.The car, coming from the Jakhal side, mowed down the workers, police said. The driver abandoned the vehicle and fled the spot, said SP Palwinder Cheema.He said raids were being conducted to nab the driver.According to an eyewitness, the incident took place around 5.30 pm. The car first hit a motorcycle before turning towards the workers, who were taking a water break by the roadside.The deceased have been identified as Karamjit Kaur, Jivan Singh, Nikki, Sarabjeet Kaur, Ranjit Kaur, Karamjit, Rani Kaur and Desh Raj, all residents of Alisher and surrounding villages.The car is reportedly registered in the name of Pargat Singh of Patiala.Deputy Commissioner Poonamdeep Kaur said the district administration was providing medical assistance to the injured.Relatives of the victims alleged the implementing agency had ignored applicable road-safety requirements. None of the workers had been provided with high-visibility reflective jackets, they said. Advance warning signs, cones and barricades were also missing.