The story so far: Madhya Pradesh police personnel went to the banks of the Barana river stream in Kupi village of Chhatarpur district on July 19 and cleared a protest site where hundreds of villagers, mostly tribal people, had been demonstrating for two weeks against the Union government’s ₹44,000 crore Ken-Betwa Link Project, India’s first river-linking project, and two irrigation projects of the State government.
The police took local activist Amit Bhatnagar, founder of the Jai Kisan Sangathan, who had been on an indefinite hunger strike for 14 days, and admitted him to a government hospital. They also picked up nearly 150 protestors, most of them from neighbouring Panna district, in buses and dropped them off at their villages.
On July 23, he suspended his 18-day fast after the government’s assurance that people left out of the rehabilitation process will be included.
What is the Ken-Betwa river linking project?
The Ken-Betwa River Linking Project is the first of 30 proposed river-linking projects under the National Perspective Plan (NPP). Formulated in 1980 by the then Union Ministry of Irrigation and the Central Water Commission, the NPP aims to transfer water from rivers with a perceived surplus to those facing water deficits. The NPP is divided into two components — Himalayan Rivers Development that proposes 14 links and Peninsular Rivers Development that plans 16 links, as identified by the National Water Development Agency.
The foundation stone for the project was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December 2024, in Khajuraho, where he also laid the foundation stone for the construction of the Daudhan Dam during a public event.
The project aims to transfer the declared surplus water of the Ken River to the Betwa River by constructing the Daudhan Dam on the Ken and a 221-kilometre canal, including a 2-km tunnel. In addition, the project is expected to generate 103 MW of hydropower and 27 MW of solar power. It also aims to address water scarcity in the drought-prone Bundelkhand region by providing drinking water to about 4.4 million people across 12 districts of Madhya Pradesh and more than 2 million people across 10 districts of Uttar Pradesh.
Why are tribal people protesting and what are their key demands?
According to the Union government, 7,193 families of 14 villages in Chhatarpur and eight villages in Panna district are facing displacement under the project. According to Divya Ahirwar of Jai Kisan Sangathan, the key demands regarding the Ken-Betwa project are that each adult be treated as an individual beneficiary — rather than as part of a family — for the ₹12.5 lakh rehabilitation package, and that the eligibility cut-off date be revised from February 16, 2024, to the present date.
The protests also oppose the State government’s Majhgaon and Runjh irrigation projects. For these projects, the protesters are demanding rehabilitation and compensation on par with the package offered under the Ken-Betwa project. In both cases, they have also alleged serious irregularities in the survey and selection process and claim that several people who have no connection with the villages or have moved years ago have been included in the rehabilitation plan, while many genuine residents have been left out.
Speaking from the hospital, Mr. Bhatnagar claimed that the police action came on the day he was planning to “reveal the details of an alleged ₹400-crore corruption scheme” involving the inclusion of fake beneficiaries in the compensation process.
Protesters have also alleged irregularities in the gram sabha proceedings in tribal villages, claiming that the process of securing consent for the Ken-Betwa project was flawed.
How did the government respond?
The State government has approved an additional ₹300 crore for the rehabilitation packages of the Majhgaon and Runjh irrigation projects, increasing compensation from ₹5 lakh to ₹12.5 lakh per eligible beneficiary.
Chhatarpur Collector Parth Jaiswal said that a new survey had identified around 750 additional families, who have now been included in the rehabilitation plan for the Majhgaon and Runjh projects. He described the protesters’ remaining demands as “invalid” and alleged that some people were “misleading” the villagers.
What are the environmental concerns surrounding the project?
Several environmental concerns have also been flagged, especially as a large part of the project falls inside the Panna Tiger Reserve. Apart from displacement, the primary concern revolves around the proposed felling of trees. As per the Jal Shakti Ministry, approximately 17,101 trees had been identified for felling to facilitate the execution of the Daudhan Dam and allied infrastructure until July, 2025. Of these, 12,404 trees have been felled within the Reserve Forest.
There is worry that the project may hurt the tiger reintroduction programme in the reserve which revived the feline population after it had locally gone extinct in 2009. Apart from tigers, species such as endangered vultures, mahseer fish, and gharials in the Ken Gharial Sanctuary are also feared to be impacted.
The Central government is yet to release hydrological data of the two basins claiming that they are sensitive by virtue of being subsets of the international Ganga basin.
Published – July 26, 2026 03:00 am IST
