NACEJ condemns the violation of constitutional and human rights of the Ken-Betwa Link Project-affected communities: Govt must cancel Project and pursue decentralized alternatives
napm india
NACEJ condemns the violation of constitutional and human rights of the
Ken-Betwa Link Project-affected communities
NACEJ demands cancellation of the project, reparations for losses suffered and
implementation of decentralized alternatives
16th July, 2026: The National Alliance for Climate and Environmental Justice (NACEJ) expresses its unflinching solidarity with the democratic movement of the project-affected people protesting against their displacement by the Ken-Betwa River interlinking project. We condemn the illegal arrests, evictions and demolitions that the people are being subjected to, in gross violation of their constitutional and human rights. The project itself is devoid of rationale, its approval was through a deeply flawed process, and its implementation now is through coercive displacement. We, therefore, demand complete cancellation of the project, reparations for losses suffered so far and implementation of decentralized, non-displacing and socio-ecologically sustainable alternatives.
The Union Cabinet approved the Ken-Betwa Link Project in December 2021, to transfer “surplus” water from the Ken River basin to Betwa river basin to provide drinking water to 6.2 million people and irrigate 1.062 million hectares in water-deficient areas of Bundelkhand spread across Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The proposed Daudhan Dam will collect ‘surplus’ water from the Ken River and send it through a 221-kilometre canal to the Betwa basin. Around 5,288 families in Chhattarpur and 1,400 families in Panna districts of Madhya Pradesh will be displaced by Daudhan dam alone. The whole project is budgeted at INR 45,000 crore, and will submerge portions of the Panna National Park and Tiger Reserve, a crucial habitat for tigers.
There is no credible evidence to show that Ken basin has surplus water. Under the impact of climate change, short-term accelerated flows may be seen in some rivers, which cannot be a reliable basis for decisions about water availability. What is worse, the flow data of Ken and Betwa rivers is not available in the public domain. Since the rivers are tributaries of the Ganga, which flows into Bangladesh, the data is considered important to national security.
The project will in fact lead to more iniquitous distribution of irrigation water within the Ken and Betwa basins. In 2019, the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) appointed by the Supreme Court said in its report that the commitment of the entire water available from the river Ken through the Ken-Betwa Link Project Phase-1 (KBLP-1) to develop the Ken Lower Basin and the Upper Betwa basin will deprive the farmers in the Upper Ken Basin/ catchment area. The project will actually facilitate export of water from drought-prone areas of Bundelkhand, according to the report of the former District Collector, Panna. The CEC noted in its report that the earlier Betwa Lower Basin irrigation project had been “over-designed” in such a way as to use up all the available water of the Betwa basin in lower Betwa without leaving anything for upper Betwa. To ‘compensate’ for this, the inter-linking project was now being proposed.
The way environment, forest and wildlife clearance were accorded to the project made a mockery of the whole process. The project involves the diversion of 6,017 hectares of forest land, the destruction of wildlife habitat in the Critical Tiger Habitat (CTH) of the Panna National Park and Tiger Reserve with its population of 79 tigers, as well as change in the flow of water, and construction within the Ken Gharial Sanctuary. Wildlife habitat of 10,500 hectares will be completely lost due to submergence and fragmentation, including 46 lakh trees as estimated by the Forest Advisory Committee in 2017. The dam will submerge roughly 70 percent of the core area of the Tiger Reserve, including critical tiger breeding zones and habitat for the critically endangered white-rumped and long-billed vultures. In direct violation of Forest Clearance conditions, the project is now proposing to build a 78 MW power plant inside the Tiger Reserve.
Cessation of silt flow in the river due to the construction of the Daudhan dam will adversely impact the Gharial Sanctuary downstream of the dam. The project design does not allow for water to be released downstream of the Bariyarpur Weir where the Sanctuary is located. The dam will isolate the upstream aquatic fauna of the Panna National Park and this will impact the breeding habitats of aquatic life forms both upstream and downstream.
At every step - from the clearance of the Expert Appraisal Committee of MoEF & CC or the approval of the Forest Advisory Committee, or the approval 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.
- The Standing Committee of the National Board for Wild Life (SC-NBWL) had ignored its own expert committee report which had said:
(a) no developmental project should destroy the ecology of remnant fragile ecosystems and an important tiger habitat in the country. It would be best to avoid these projects in such wilderness areas with protected area status.
(b) the interlinking proposal may not be the best possible option for addressing the livelihood and development of the region using water resources from the Ken River.
- To substitute for the loss of 10,500 ha of wildlife habitat in Panna Tiger Reserve, it was proposed to integrate it with three other Wildlife Sanctuaries. In 2023, the Veerangana Durgavati Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh was notified as a tiger reserve. Yet in January 2026, the SC-NBWL approved the use of about 272 ha of forest land inside this new reserve for an irrigation dam.
- In the words of the CEC, “The mitigative measure suggested by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the SC-NBWL do not address the loss of the special and unique ecosystem of gorges, rocky cliffs and riverine flora and fauna on either bank of the river Ken. The wildlife including micro flora and fauna which have evolved in this ecosystem will, on commissioning of the project, perish forever.”
- The CEC had noted that the SC-NBWL had not examined the impact of the project on the downstream Gharial Sanctuary and the vulture nesting sites, and consequently no mitigative measures had been proposed.
As in all such mega-projects, the burden of displacement and livelihood loss falls disproportionately on Adivasis and other most vulnerable communities. The Gond and Kol adivasis of Daudhan village in Chhatarpur’s Bijawar tehsil have lived on this land for generations, depending entirely on farming, river and forest produce. Over 6600 Gond and Kol Adivasi households face displacement by the Daudhan dam. Ten villages face complete submergence, and 24 villages in all face displacement. Fourteen of these are being incorporated in the Panna Tiger Reserve in order to compensate for the loss of core area in the Reserve. Therefore, 10 villages are being ‘resettled’ under the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, and 14 villages are being ‘resettled’ under the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972.
There has been a lack of transparency in informing the villagers about the project and its impact and in working out their compensation. No Gram Sabhas were ever held in the project-affected villages, no social impact assessment reports were placed before the public. Therefore, the consent of the Gram Sabha, which is required as per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act (RFCTLARR), 2013, in Adivasi villages, was not obtained.
Those displaced are supposed to be given the option of a one-time rehabilitation grant of Rs.6.5 lakh per acre and an urban plot, or Rs.7 lakh per acre and a rural plot, or a meagre Rs.12.5 lakh per acre if no plot is taken. In practice, all-cash compensation is being given. Additional compensation for trees, orchards, structures like sheds and huts, wells and tube wells, work out to a mere Rs.2 lakh; and compensation for acquired houses at Rs. 6 lakh. There is no compensation for lost access to the forest, which gives them food and cash income from non-timber forest produce like mahua flowers and tendu leaves. For many in these communities, this is their second displacement - the first was for the Panna Tiger Reserve.
The Forest Rights Act would have recorded the rights of the Adivasi and other traditional forest-dwelling communities, and Community Forest Resource rights would have given the Gram Sabha the final authority to decide if their forest land should be diverted or not. But the FRA has not been implemented, and even the resettlement of villages located inside the Panna Tiger Reserve is being carried out under the WLPA and not the FRA.
The local communities’ demand is that their centuries-old villages hold deep social and cultural significance for them, and should not be destroyed. They demand full compliance with the RFCTLARR Act, 2013, if displacement is unavoidable. They want all affected and displaced villages belonging to Adivasi communities to be rehabilitated in a manner that preserves their culture and traditional way of life. They demand land in lieu of land and village in lieu of village, so that they can continue their socio-cultural practices and dignified livelihoods.
The Adivasis and other communities have chosen brave forms of protest, apart from satyagraha, sit-ins, demonstrations, road blockades and gheraos of the Collector’s office. Angered by discrepancies and alleged corruption in compensation surveys, the villagers intensified their movement in April 2026. Around 7,000 women lay on mock funeral pyres as part of the unique Chita Andolan, to signal that displacement is a kind of death. This was accompanied by the Jal Andolan and Mitti Andolan, where protesters waded into rivers with ropes around their necks or buried themselves in mud.
The movement was called off when the Government ‘assured’ protesters their concerns would be looked into on the one hand, but on the other, declared Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 which would make people’s assemblies unlawful. Section 21 of the RFCTLARR Act, 2013, requires the District Collector to issue public notice and give affected individuals between 30 days and 6 months to file individual claims and objections. Section 38(1) prohibits the State from taking full possession of land unless all compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement entitlements have been paid in full. Instead, the administration resorted to outright repression, with false charges being filed against movement leaders of the Jai Kisan Sangathan and many being jailed. Unlawful evictions from houses, demolitions of houses and schools without notice and electricity disconnections followed. The Chita Andolan and fast-unto-death resumed in July with the slogan, “Give us justice, or kill us.”
Alternatives to meet the specific objectives of the interlinking project were never considered, thereby violating the basic tenet of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
- There were already 182 irrigation projects in Ken basin and 348 irrigation projects in Betwa basin before KBLP was planned. The efficiency of these projects could have been improved.
- The region receives more than 1,100 mm of rainfall annually, and there are many examples in the country where village communities with less than half of this rainfall have been able to create water security by harvesting local water though watershed development and demand management.
- Thousands of Chandela and Bundela period tanks built between the 9th and 14th centuries are spread all over Bundelkhand, but unfortunately are in disuse today. Their rejuvenation would promote the region’s water security, rather than a costly and long-gestation megaproject with highly uncertain results.
- Tanks, check dams, farm ponds and watershed systems built over centuries have deteriorated due to neglect in Bundelkhand. Despite that, some successful tank restoration and farm pond schemes are already in operation in the region. The traditional Haveli system of earthen bunding raises groundwater levels. All these can be upscaled over the entire region with suitable government support and schemes.
The Ken-Betwa interlinking project has been conceived only to cover up the mistakes in designing the previous Lower Betwa irrigation project. The project design, environmental appraisal and resettlement & rehabilitation processes have been vitiated from the very beginning. The result is social, economic, cultural and environmental injustice to already vulnerable citizens and communities, and ecological injustice to non-human life forms. The loss of over 10,000 hectares of protected area and 46 lakh trees is a loss of vital ecological services and valuable carbon sinks in the midst of a climate emergency.
In the light of the above grave concerns and violations, NACEJ demands:
- The Union Cabinet reconsider and withdraw its approval for the project immediately.
- Immediate halt to forced evictions, demolitions, and coercive land acquisition in the affected villages.
- Immediate withdrawal of all cases filed against people and activists for exercising their democratic right to protect their villages and land and an end to surveillance and repression.
- Full compliance with the Forest Rights Act, 2006 and protection of the rights of Adivasi and other forest-dwelling communities.
- Full implementation of the provisions of the LARR Act, 2013, including consent process, fair compensation, rehabilitation, and transparency.
- Lawful, dignified and fair Resettlement and Rehabilitation of displaced families, including land-for-land and village-for-village rehabilitation measures, after due consent.
- A fast-track investigation into corruption and malpractices in compensation and rehabilitation by the State Government, and action against officials who ordered illegal evictions, demolitions and power shut-offs.
- An independent judicial inquiry into allegations of illegal detention, police brutality, harassment, torture, and abuse by authorities so far.
- Reversal of damage to land, water and forest caused by the project and environmental restoration by the State Government.
- Central assistance to the State Governments to revitalise the already existing irrigation infrastructure, and traditional tanks, farm ponds and watersheds.
- A comprehensive, transparent, and independent review of the ecological, social, and legal impacts of the Ken–Betwa River Linking Project.
Issued by: National Alliance for Climate and Ecological Justice (NACEJ)
Contact for details: E-mail: nacej.n...@gmail.com
NACEJ members across India are grassroots movement activists, ecologists, climate scientists, environmental researchers and lawyers, working to address Climate Crisis, through an Ecological and Social Justice Approach, upholding human rights and co-existence of all species.