New Delhi, Aug. 5 -- On July 19, twenty-four hours after activist Sonam Wangchuk was forcibly removed by the Delhi Police from the Jantar Mantar protest site on the 21st day of his indefinite hunger strike, Amit Bhatnagar, a leader of people affected by the Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) and founder of the Jai Kisan Organisation, was forcibly removed from the protest site on the bank of the Barana River in Kupi village, where hundreds of villagers, mostly tribals, had been demonstrating against the Union Government's Rs.44,600 crore Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP). Though he had been admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of a nearby government hospital by the Madhya Pradesh (M.P.) Police, he continued his protest and, after 18 days of fasting, ended his fast on July 23, when the administration ordered a fresh survey in the project-affected villages. According to the Jai Kisan Organisation, it was also agreed during the discussion that an authorised representative of the organisation would be present in each village during the verification process.
The 77-metre-high Daudhan Dam under the KBLP will displace 5,288 families in Chhatarpur district and 1,400 families in Panna district of Madhya Pradesh due to land submergence and dam-related land acquisition. The indigenous Gond and Kol tribes, who have lived along the forest edges for generations, depending on farming and forest produce for survival, will be displaced. The most shocking aspect of the KBLP is the disparity between the promised and actual compensation. Although the government declared compensation of Rs.6 lakh for a 30-40-year-old house and Rs.12.5 lakh per acre, the actual situation is very different. It is reported that the administration has offered affected families a cash package of Rs.12.5 lakh, and this amount has been deposited for only about 40% of the affected families. The demands for 'land instead of land' and 'village instead of village', the fundamental principles of just rehabilitation, have apparently been ignored.
On April 8, 2026, local tribal women staged the 'chita andolan'-a symbolic funeral pyre protest-warning authorities that the conditions they face amid displacement are worse than death itself. Along with the 'chita andolan', 'aamran anshan' ('fast unto death') and the 'mitti' and 'jal' satyagrahas (protests of the soil and water) were organised. The protesters said they were not opposing development but were demanding that rehabilitation be completed lawfully and transparently before displacement. Their principal allegations include irregularities in compensation, faulty rehabilitation surveys, questionable Gram Sabha proceedings, payments to allegedly ineligible beneficiaries, and incomplete rehabilitation before construction.
Both the Ken and the Betwa are tributaries of the Yamuna, draining the Bundelkhand plateau that straddles Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) is the inaugural undertaking of India's National Perspective Plan for Interlinking of Rivers, first articulated in 1980 by the Ministry of Irrigation. In 1995, the KBLP was given institutional form through the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) to conduct feasibility studies on inter-basin water transfers. After decades of controversy and delay, on March 22, 2021, ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti and the Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh signed the Ken-Betwa Link Project agreement in New Delhi, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The foundation stone for the project was later laid by Prime Minister Modi at Khajuraho on December 25, 2024, coinciding with the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, under whose tenure the interlinking programme gained political momentum.
The government claims that, once completed in 2030, the project will help irrigate 1.06 million hectares of land, provide drinking water to 6.2 million people, and generate 130 MW of hydropower and solar energy. However, at least 10 villages will be submerged to build the dam's reservoir, and 11 more villages will be displaced for constructing the canal, affecting more than 7,000 families. The dam will submerge 5,578 hectares of forest land and split the Panna Tiger Reserve. Nearly 98 square kilometres of the 543-square-kilometre sanctuary under the reserve, which successfully brought tigers back from the brink of local extinction in 2009, will be submerged.
River-linking projects suffer from long-term ecological risks. In 2019, a panel of experts constituted by India's top court raised concerns about the KBLP, questioning its economic viability and its impact on the region's wildlife. The panel said the government should explore alternative irrigation methods in the river basin. Independent studies on river-linking projects in India have made similar observations. A 2023 study published in the journal Nature Communications stated that such endeavours "may worsen the water stress across the country, making these projects ineffective or possibly even counterproductive", reports the BBC. Alternate suggestions include restoring an estimated one lakh natural water bodies in Bundelkhand, which could provide greater water storage at a lower cost and without displacing thousands of people.
Amid all the development activities, the marginalised indigenous people are the worst sufferers because they have been facing displacement for generations. Various studies reveal that in India, the tribal population, which comprises 8.6% of the total population, constitutes more than 40% of the population displaced by developmental activities.
The KBLP has once again ignited the decades-old debate on development-for whom, and at what cost? The Rs.44,600 crore KBLP aims to benefit farmers in Uttar Pradesh by irrigating 2.51 lakh hectares across districts, including Banda, Mahoba, Jhansi and Lalitpur. By contrast, the indigenous Gond and Kol tribes being displaced in the Chhatarpur and Panna districts of Madhya Pradesh are helpless and are not among its beneficiaries. This raises important questions of environmental justice and inter-state fairness. Should the marginalised people of one state bear the environmental and social costs for the irrigation benefits of farmers in another state? Second, how much longer will the indigenous people of India continue to sacrifice their 'water, forest and land' for the advancement of the colonisers?
Views expressed are personal. The writer is a professor of Business Administration who primarily writes on political economy, global trade, and sustainable development
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.