Daijiworld Media Network – Bhopal
Bhopal, Jul 19: Madhya Pradesh Police on Sunday detained Ken-Betwa protest leader Amit Bhatnagar and several demonstrators from the protest site at Kupi village in Chhatarpur district, bringing to an end a two-week agitation against the Rs 44,605-crore Ken-Betwa Link Project.
The action came after Bhatnagar completed 14 days of an indefinite hunger strike while leading protests over alleged irregularities in land acquisition, rehabilitation and compensation for families affected by the project.
The Ken-Betwa Link Project, India's first river-linking initiative, aims to transfer water from the Ken River to the Betwa basin through the Daudhan Dam and a network of canals to provide irrigation, drinking water and hydropower in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The project requires the displacement of nearly 2,000 families from villages falling within the reservoir's submergence area.
Several platoons of police in riot gear reached the protest site, where Bhatnagar and other demonstrators entered the river to keep their distance from security personnel while police attempted to persuade them to end the agitation.
Additional Superintendent of Police (Chhatarpur) Aditya Patle said Bhatnagar had not been arrested but was detained considering his deteriorating health after two weeks without food.
"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.
He added that around 150 protesters were detained and transported by bus to Panna district.
"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," he said.
A social activist who has worked on displacement and rehabilitation issues in the Bundelkhand region, Bhatnagar has been leading the protest at Kupi since July 3. The agitation drew displaced villagers from Daudhan, Palkhua, Sukwaha and neighbouring villages, who demanded fresh land surveys, correction of compensation records and action against alleged irregularities.
Before his detention, Bhatnagar alleged that the land acquisition process lacked fairness and transparency and claimed there were serious discrepancies in compensation disbursement.
He also alleged that Gram Panchayat proceedings from several villages contained identical entries and questioned the authenticity of Gram Sabha meetings held in February 2022. He further claimed that compensation had been wrongly sanctioned in several cases, including to people with no connection to affected villages.
Chhatarpur Collector Parth Jaiswal rejected the allegations, stating that only about 10 per cent of the 176 identified protesters were directly affected by the Ken-Betwa project, while the remaining participants were linked to grievances relating to other dam projects.
He denied any irregularities in the Gram Sabha records and clarified that compensation cited by protesters had been paid for acquired agricultural land, irrespective of the beneficiaries' place of residence.
Jaiswal said the administration was examining all genuine grievances related to the Ken-Betwa project through the prescribed process, while issues concerning projects in neighbouring Panna district had been forwarded to the respective authorities.