On April 8, hundreds of tribal farmers, many of them women, lay on mock funeral pyres on the banks of the Ken river in Dhondhan village in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh. Alongside, hundreds more sat on a dharna, holding placards and raising the slogan: “Nyay do ya mrutyu [give us justice, or give us death].”

The scene unfolded as part of the “Chita Andolan” at the starting point of the ambitious Ken-Betwa river-linking project, symbolising the protesters’ anguish over being displaced from their villages and the uncertainty that lies ahead.

Tribal farmers of several villages in Chhatarpur and Panna districts of Madhya Pradesh who are set to be displaced because of the Ken-Betwa project have been fiercely agitating against what they describe as grossly inadequate rehabilitation provided by the State administration. They complain that a large number of eligible villagers have either been left out of the rehabilitation plan or have not received any compensation. They also allege corruption in the process of disbursing compensation.

This was the most recent round of agitations by the villagers, which began on April 5 when a group embarked on a march to Delhi but was stopped by the police. Simultaneously, hundreds of villagers, mostly women, set up protest camps in the villages that are in the vicinity of the Daudhan dam construction site, the starting point of the river-linking project. The campaign, which captured national attention, especially because of the stark images of the Chita Andolan, also saw the villagers undertake other forms of protests such as the “Akash Andolan”, which involved fasting; the “Mitti Andolan”, wherein the agitators smeared soil from their villages on their bodies; and the “Jal Andolan”, wherein they stood knee-deep or waist-deep in the Ken river for hours. The protesters even stood in the river with symbolic nooses around their necks.

On April 16, the protesters suspended their agitation after the State administration agreed to listen to their grievances.

The Ken-Betwa link is the first of the projects of the ambitious river-linking agenda of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government, but it has been mired in controversy. The government aims to showcase it as an example of the feasibility and desirability of linking rivers. But some tough questions have been asked about the human costs involved as also its impact on the ecology, including on the Panna Tiger Reserve, a large part of which will be submerged. Experts have raised further doubts about the project’s viability and cost-effectiveness.

The project has been presented by the government as an effective way to bring water to the water-deficit Bundelkhand region, which comprises 13 districts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Its main aim is to transfer surplus water from the Ken basin to the water-sparse Betwa basin. It involves the construction of the Daudhan dam on the Ken river and a 221-kilometre-long canal to carry water from the Ken to the Betwa.

The genesis of the river-linking plan dates back to 1980, when the government formulated a National Perspective Plan for interlinking rivers to transfer water from surplus areas to water-deficit regions. The National Water Development Agency was entrusted with the work, and 30 link projects were identified. The Ken-Betwa link is the only project under the plan whose implementation has started.

The Union Cabinet cleared the project in December 2021, and as per current estimates, it will cost Rs.44,605 crore. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the project on December 25, 2024.

The project is envisaged to provide water for irrigation of 10.62 lakh hectares (ha) and domestic water supply to 62 lakh people and generate 103 megawatt hydroelectric power and 27 MW solar power. It is scheduled to be completed by March 2030.

In February 2026, the villagers undertook protests that turned violent when they pelted stones at local officials and the police and gheraoed the Bijawar tehsil office to press for their demands, including the release of the activist Amit Bhatnagar, who has been leading the campaign. Bhatnagar, leader of the farmers’ rights group Jai Kisan Sangathan who had contested the Madhya Pradesh Assembly election in 2023 from the Bijawar constituency in Chhatarpur district as the candidate of the AAP, was released on February 12 after four days in custody.

Once again, during the protests in April 2026, tempers ran high, and the villagers clashed with the local police. Local administration officials who had attempted to approach the villagers for discussions on April 9 quickly retreated.

The villagers agreed to suspend their protests on April 16 after a local administration team held talks with them and assured them that all their issues would be addressed. A fresh survey was announced by the administration to ensure that no eligible villager is left out of the list of beneficiaries of the rehabilitation package and to look into complaints with regard to calculation and disbursal of compensation.

22 villages to be displaced, 10 to be submerged

Acquisition of land or the construction of the Daudhan dam as part of the project would displace 22 villages, affecting over 7,000 families in Panna and Chhatarpur districts. Of these, 10 villages are set to be completely submerged.

The total area that will be submerged spans 9,000 ha, including over 4,141 ha of the core area of the Panna Tiger Reserve and 1,314 ha of the buffer zone of the sanctuary.

The protesters are deeply anguished about leaving their ancestral villages and fear it would entail abandoning their traditional means of livelihood, which are intrinsically linked to the forest and the river. The local population in the region is primarily Adivasi, belonging to the Gond and the Kol tribes. Their lives have for long been anchored to the Ken and the forest. Hence, they have demanded “village for village” and “land for land” resettlement in the same habitat. They have also demanded that the compensation amount be raised from Rs.12.5 lakh to Rs.25 lakh, arguing that they would have to rebuild their lives.

The villagers seek greater transparency in the survey of their lands and houses and a fair and transparent evaluation of the compensation amount. Bhatnagar claims that the provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, have not been followed in letter or in spirit.

“There has been a lack of transparency in informing the villagers about the project and its impact and in working out their compensation. The consent of the gram sabha, which is required as per law, was not procured in a transparent manner. Many villagers are not even aware that a gram sabha was held,” claimed Bhatnagar.

Syamal Sarkar, former Secretary at the Union Ministry of Water Resources and senior adviserr, Water Resources and Policy, The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi, emphasised that rehabilitation and resettlement are very big issues in any river-linking project because they require land, especially for the construction of a storage reservoir, which often results in the submergence of habitable areas and irrigated lands. “There is a need to have innovative packages for the people affected by the project,” said Sarkar.

The rehabilitation package announced by the State government comprises compensation for private land as per the land acquisition law or Rs.12.5 lakh per ha, whichever is higher; additional compensation for trees, orchards, structures like sheds and huts, wells and tube wells, working out to roughly Rs.2 lakh; compensation for acquired houses as per the land acquisition law; compensation for encroachers of government lands if they have been residing in the house for more than two years and if it is their only house; and a one-time rehabilitation grant of Rs.6.5 lakh and an urban plot, or Rs.7 lakh and a rural plot, or Rs.12.5 lakh if no plot is taken. Also, each affected individual aged 18 years or above is to be treated separately for rehabilitation benefits.

According to Dr Rajesh Rajora, Additional Chief Secretary, Water Resources, government of Madhya Pradesh, many of the villagers’ demands cannot be met as they go against the law. He said the 2013 land acquisition law recognises a family—that is a husband and wife—as a single unit and does not permit benefits to be extended to each voter.

As for the demand for change in the cut-off date to January 1, 2026, to identify adults eligible for rehabilitation, he said altering it would violate established norms. The local administration is currently following the cut-off date of February 16, 2024, to decide eligibility. About the demand for plots, he said the provision exists as an alternative, but all the affected families have already opted for the special rehabilitation package of Rs.12.5 lakh.

Rajora insisted that land has been acquired in accordance with the land acquisition law, and three separate awards—agricultural land, houses, and a special rehabilitation package—have been approved for each of the affected families.

“A compensation amount of more than Rs.700 crore has been disbursed, which accounts for 90 per cent of the award value. A few members of the project-affected families who had migrated temporarily in search of employment opportunities have expressed their dissatisfaction over their exclusion from the rehabilitation package, for whom supplementary awards are being prepared. This accounts for roughly 10 per cent of the affected families,” Rajora said.

The environmental impact

Besides the human cost, the project has been critiqued by experts for its projected environmental impact, including the submergence of the Panna Tiger Reserve and the large-scale felling of trees. According to the government’s own estimates, around 17,101 trees were identified for felling to facilitate the construction of the dam. Of these, 12,404 trees have been felled within the reserve.

Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, said: “The process of environmental and forest clearances was badly manipulated. At every step—be it the clearance of the expert appraisal committee of the Environment Ministry, or the approval of the forest advisory committee, or the go-ahead given by the Madhya Pradesh State Wildlife Board—the process was flawed and was vitiated by manipulations. Experts at every stage voiced grave concerns, which were set aside.”

A Central Empowered Committee constituted by the Supreme Court to examine the wildlife clearance given to the project with regard to the projected impact on the Panna Tiger Reserve and the riverine ecosystem and the adequacy of the mitigating measures submitted its report in August 2019. The report raised questions about the clearance and highlighted the large-scale felling of trees and the impact on wildlife in the area. It further expressed doubts about the viability of the project and asked if more cost-effective methods could be explored to deal with water scarcity in Bundelkhand.

According to Sarkar, the Ken-Betwa project has both positive and negative sides. While the potential benefits of any river-linking project include domestic and industrial water supply, drought control, flow management, salinity control, and pollution control, the downsides include loss of biodiversity, mass displacement, and submergence of forests.

“In fact, the Ken-Betwa project will submerge ecologically important areas such as forests and parts of the Panna Tiger Reserve. Resettlement and rehabilitation are also big issues. There is a need to consider and address the ecological dimension of any river-linking project, including Ken-Betwa,” Sarkar said.

The government maintains that all environmental and forest clearances for the project have been procured in adherence with norms. It insists that the concerns raised by environmentalists have been duly acknowledged and were carefully examined during the planning and approval stages.

Rajora said: “While it is recognised that some degree of environmental impact is inevitable in large-scale infrastructure projects, all efforts are being made to strike a balance between ecological sustainability and developmental needs. The project framework emphasises minimising adverse impact and ensuring effective long-term mitigation.” Significantly, experts have questioned whether the basic premise of the Ken having surplus water that can be transferred to the Betwa basin itself holds true; and if not, whether the government should have focussed on more cost-effective measures to improve water availability in the Bundelkhand region.

Thakkar said: “On the basis of available information on the hydrology of the project, the Ken river does not have surplus water. Also, Betwa became water-deficit because of the dams that were built on it. It is not able to cater to those dams.”

The focus area for the project is Bundelkhand, which suffers from severe water scarcity and erratic rainfall, with 90 per cent of its rains received during just two months. Sarkar pointed out that the rocky terrain restricting groundwater discharge and deforestation has made the situation worse.

“There is a need to conserve and manage community resources. Restoration of water bodies and enhancement of groundwater level through traditional techniques should be adopted. Har Ghar Jal Scheme should be adequately implemented.

Other schemes such as Jal Sahelis should be adequately implemented to manage community resources. Artificial recharge of groundwater through check dams and traditional water bodies is essential. Some of these issues should be addressed along with the implementation of the Ken-Betwa river linking, as the rocky Bundelkhand terrain cannot be changed even with the project,” he said.

The government insists that the project’s planning was based on detailed hydrological studies carried out over long-term datasets, which indicate the availability of surplus water in the Ken basin during the monsoon.

Rajora corroborated this: “The body constituted at the national level specifically for this purpose—the National Water Development Agency—has conducted all these studies with the help of statutory authorities and institutions.”

However, at the centre of the lingering questions about the Ken-Betwa river-linking project are the concerns of the people who will be most directly affected by it. And they have spoken out loud and clear.

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