Distressing Visuals 🚨 Tribal families in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur district have been staging a ‘Chita Andolan’ (funeral pyre protest) for nine consecutive days against the Ken-Betwa river-linking project, claiming they are being displaced without compensation. The protesters gathered under the Barana River bridge accused the local administration of ignoring their concerns and suppressing previous agitations with “false assurances.” “Many families are being displaced without compensation. No one in the administration is willing to listen to us. That’s why we’ve been protesting under this Barana bridge for nine days now,” a protester said. The families expressed deep distrust towards the administration, recalling past protests at the Betwa Canal and dam that were ended after being given false assurances. “Last time, we went to the Betwa Canal and protested at the dam. But the administration suspended our protest by giving us false assurances. But we are not going to back down or be intimidated by false assurances,” the protester added. The Ken-Betwa Link National Project is a significant irrigation initiative using an underground pressurised pipe system. It involves constructing a 77-metre-high and 2.13-kilometre-long Daudhan Dam and two tunnels (1.9 km upper level and 1.1 km lower level) on the Ken River in Panna Tiger Reserve. The dam will store 2,853 million cubic metres of water and transfer surplus water to the Betwa River via a 221-kilometre canal. www.navjivanfoundation.org