Madhya Pradesh Police on Sunday detained social activist and Ken-Betwa Link Project protest leader Amit Bhatnagar after he spent 14 days on an indefinite fast against the Rs 44,605-crore project. Around 150 other protesters were also detained and taken to neighbouring Panna district in buses, The Indian Express reported.
The police action at Kupi village in Chhatarpur district brought an end to a two-week protest over alleged irregularities in land acquisition, compensation and rehabilitation for families affected by the project.
Additional Superintendent of Police (Chhatarpur) Aditya Patle told The Indian Express that Bhatnagar had not been arrested but was taken into custody because of concerns over his health after the prolonged fast.
“Bhatnagar has not been arrested. He was on a fast for two weeks, and taking his health into account, we detained him and took him to the local hospital for treatment,” Patle said. The officer said around 150 protesters were also detained and sent to Panna.
“Our investigation showed these are not people from the locality but from Panna who had issues with other dam projects. So we detained them and sent them to Panna,” Patle said.
Police move in as protesters enter river
On Sunday morning, several platoons of local police, including personnel in riot gear, reached the protest site as authorities attempted to persuade the demonstrators to call off the agitation. Bhatnagar and some protesters reportedly moved into the river to keep their distance from the police force as negotiations continued.
Bhatnagar had been leading the agitation since July 3, with protesters from Daudhan, Palkhua, Sukwaha and neighbouring settlements demanding fresh surveys, corrections in compensation records and action over alleged irregularities in the land acquisition and rehabilitation process.
Bhatnagar alleges manipulation of Gram Sabha records
Hours before his detention, Bhatnagar, who was visibly weak after two weeks without food, told The Indian Express that the government had failed to maintain transparency in the land acquisition process. He alleged that proceedings registers of the Gram Panchayats of Ratiya, Kari, Khatwani, Palkhua, Naiyyapur, Khajuri and Sukwaha contained identical, word-for-word entries.
He also questioned records showing that several Gram Sabha meetings were held at 11:30 am on February 17 and 18, 2022, alleging that the entries raised questions about the authenticity of the proceedings.
Bhatnagar further alleged that around Rs 11 crore had been sanctioned as compensation for houses in Kharihani village, while documents in his possession suggested that nearly Rs 8 crore was paid to people who either had no connection with the village or had migrated decades ago.
He also claimed that compensation had been sanctioned in the name of a Muslim family even though, according to villagers, no Muslim family had ever resided in Kharihani.
The allegations have not been independently verified.
Two weeks of protests over villages facing submergence
Bhatnagar, a social activist who has worked on displacement and rehabilitation issues in Bundelkhand, has been involved in campaigns related to land acquisition, environmental compliance and the rights of project-affected families.
During the fortnight-long protest, he joined women demonstrators who lay on symbolic funeral cots and helped organise mock funeral pyres to highlight what protesters described as the “death” of villages that would be submerged under the Daudhan reservoir.
On Saturday, heavy rain washed away some of the symbolic funeral pyres and caused waterlogging at parts of the protest site. Bhatnagar helped coordinate the movement of women protesters from flooded areas before returning to his cot.
Despite his deteriorating condition, protesters said he continued to coordinate the agitation and meet villagers and visitors.
Collector says only 10% of protesters are project-affected
Chhatarpur Collector Parth Jaiswal rejected the protesters’ allegations and questioned the composition of the agitation. Jaiswal said the administration had identified 176 people participating in the protest, of whom only around 10% were directly affected by the Ken-Betwa project.
“We have identified 176 names of those participating in the protest. About 10% of them are affected by the Ken-Betwa project. The remaining 90% are not project-affected,” Jaiswal told The Indian Express.
The Collector also denied allegations that Gram Sabha proceedings had been fabricated. “There were no irregularities in the Gram Sabha records,” he said.
On the allegation that compensation had been paid to a Muslim family despite no such family residing in Kharihani, Jaiswal said the family owned agricultural land in the area and had been compensated for the acquisition of that land.
He also said several protesters were raising grievances related to other dam projects in neighbouring Panna district.
“Many of them have issues related to other dam projects in Panna district. Those grievances do not fall under the Chhatarpur administration’s jurisdiction. We have shared their details with the Panna administration,” Jaiswal said.
What is the Ken-Betwa Link Project?
The Ken-Betwa Link Project is India’s first river-linking project and is designed to transfer water from the Ken River basin to the Betwa basin. The Rs 44,605-crore project involves the construction of the Daudhan Dam and a network of canals. It is intended to provide irrigation and drinking water, besides generating hydropower, across parts of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
However, the project is expected to displace nearly 2,000 families from villages located within the proposed reservoir’s submergence zone. The displacement of residents and concerns over land acquisition, compensation and rehabilitation have triggered protests in the Bundelkhand region.
While the administration has defended the acquisition and compensation process and said genuine grievances are being addressed, protesters continue to demand greater transparency, fresh surveys and an independent examination of the alleged irregularities.
