Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has directed officials to visit the villages in Panna and Chhatarpur districts and meet the families that are being impacted by the Ken Betwa river link project to hear their grievances. 

Mr. Yadav issued the directions after holding a review meeting for the project in Khajuraho on Friday (August 21, 2026). The move comes just days after Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, met with a group of protestors who had staged demonstrations in April and July demanding better compensation and rehabilitation for the families affected by the Centre’s ₹44,000 crore Ken-Betwa Link Project [KBLP] as well as five M.P. Government works like the Majhgaon and Runjh irrigation projects.

Chief Minister Yadav directed the Panna and Chhatarpur district administrations to ensure that officials visit every household in the affected villages to understand the actual situation and problems of the families. He directed officials to listen sensitively to the difficulties faced by tribal families and resolve them on priority, a government statement said, after the review meeting. 

Mr. Yadav also asked officials to ensure doorstep delivery of benefits of various government welfare schemes are reaching the eligible families that have been displaced due to the project. 

“He said that where families have settled at new locations, concrete action plans should be prepared to provide essential facilities such as schools, Anganwadi centres, health centres and community halls,” the statement said. 

In April and July, hundreds of tribals from villages in the two districts had staged ‘satyagrah’ protests in various forms, including by standing in water and lying on symbolic pyres on the banks of Barana river in Chhatarpur, against the 

The demonstrations ended on July 19, after the Madhya Pradesh Police dismantled the protest site and forcibly admitted activist Amit Bhatnagar, who had been on a hunger strike, to a hospital. 

Mr. Yadav also instructed officials to ensure early payment of the approved additional amount to those affected by the Runjh and Majhgaon projects in Panna. 

The compensation for the two projects was increased from ₹5 lakh to ₹12.5 lakh for each affected family during the protests in July, bringing it on par with the compensation package of the KBLP. 

Terming the KBLP a project of national importance, Mr. Yadav said that it would prove to be a milestone in the development of Bundelkhand region.

“The project would bring significant improvements in irrigation, drinking water supply and energy in the region. He said ensuring the welfare of affected and displaced families alongside development remains the government’s priority,” he said.

The project, kickstarted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 25, 2024, aims to transfer excess water from the Ken river basin to the Betwa river basin in the region that covers parts of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. It is the first of 30 such link projects under a National Perspective Plan (NPP) for water resources development and interlinking of rivers with ‘surplus water’ to those with ‘deficit water’. 

Earlier on August 19, Mr. Gandhi extended support to the affected villagers after meeting with Mr. Bhatnagar and other protestors, and said that he would visit the area. 

“The problems, demands, struggles, and personal ordeals of the tribal brothers and sisters who are carrying out a satyagraha against the Ken-Betwa project—their own account. For years, these residents of Bundelkhand have been enduring injustice and oppression solely for their rights; they deserve respect and support. In this fight of our tribal brothers and sisters, the Congress and I stand with them,” he had written on X, sharing a video from the meeting. 

During the meeting, protestors claimed that the KBLP would impact around 7,000 families in 21 tribal-dominated villages in the two districts as well as about 46 lakh trees as part of the project falls under the Panna Tiger Reserve.

The Madhya Pradesh Police on Sunday (July 19, 2026) morning cleared the site where several tribals have been protesting against the Ken-Betwa river link project and other irrigation projects in Chhatarpur district, and took the protest leader Amit Bhatnagar, who has been on a hunger strike for 14 days, to a hospital.

The police also dismantled the protest site, on the banks of Barana river near Kupi village, and symbolic pyres used by the demonstrators, with officers saying that the decision to bring them out of water was taken due to rising water levels after heavy rains in the area.

However, several protestors refused to move, accusing the police of forcibly removing them and assaulting women. Videos also showed personnel dragging women away from the shore.

Chhatarpur Additional SP Aditya Patle said, “He [Mr. Bhatnagar] had been protesting here for many days so a team of doctors had come here with the police and the administration for his basic medical check-up. He himself was interested in this and had contacted [the authorities] that his health was deteriorating a little. So, a team of police force, doctors and administration came here and he has been peacefully sent to the hospital.”

Mr. Patle also said that the women at the protest site have been dropped to their homes in buses.

“This is an under construction bridge here and the water levels of the river are also rising due to rain. This place is not safe so they were moved from here,” he said, adding that the protesters “cooperated” with the authorities.

Videos emerged from the scene showed protestors, mostly women, holding each other in attempts to cross the river amid heavy water flow even as personnel ask them to come ashore.

Residents of several villages, mostly tribals from Panna and Chhatarpur districts, had been protesting on the banks of the Barana River near Kupi village for nearly two weeks against the ₹44,000-crore project of the Union Government and various State irrigation projects, with several demonstrators tying nooses around their necks and lying on makeshift pyres in the river in a symbolic protest.

The unique demonstration, with the slogan of ‘nyaya do varna maar do [either give us justice or kill us]’, that had been first carried out in April, was relaunched earlier this month after the discussions and government efforts failed to convince the villagers.

Their demands include improved rehabilitation and compensation packages along with the adding of people allegedly left out of the displacement survey.

The removal of the protest site and ending Mr. Bhatnagar’s hunger strike in the early hours of Sunday (July 19, 2026) comes a day after the Delhi Police, in a similar move on Saturday (July 18, 2026), forcibly removed activist Sonam Wangchuk from his Jantar Mantar protest site on the 21st day of his indefinite hunger strike. Mr. Wangchuk, along with the Cockroach Janta Party and its supporters, is demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged irregularities in several examinations.