At least two workers, including a woman of MGNREGA, were killed and two more seriously injured when a big tree got uprooted and fell on them in Tripura’s mountainous Dhalai district on Wednesday, officials said.

 A district administration official said that a big tree got uprooted and fell on the workers when they were digging a check dam in government land under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) at Nailafabari under Ambassa block of Dhalai district.

The check dam is a small dam built across a channel, ditch, or stream to reduce erosion and control water flow. Check dams are often used in agriculture, hilly areas, and arid regions.

The official said Robert Malsum (22) died on the spot while three other injured workers – Juhi Rani Malsum (26), Surjyasa Malsum (35) and Jagat Bhakta Malsum (5) – were immediately shifted to a government hospital, where Juhi Rani succumbed to her injuries during medical treatment.

The Ambassa block authority has provided preliminary compensation to the families of victims and injured workers.

The MGNREGA was conceptualised and enacted as an Act in the Parliament to give a statutory backing to the scheme. The objective of the Act is to enhance the livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

The primary objective of the scheme is to augment wage employment, and the auxiliary objective is to strengthen natural resource management through works that address causes of chronic poverty like drought, deforestation, soil erosion and thus encourage sustainable development.

The implementation of the scheme envisages a collaborative partnership of the Central and state governments and of the Panchayati Raj Institutions.

The Central government for the northeastern states bears 90 per cent of the cost for providing employment under this programme, whereas the rest 10 per cent is borne by the state. The implementation of the scheme is closely monitored at both the state and district levels.