Indian villagers hold symbolic 'water funerals' to protest river-linking project

Farmers and tribal villagers in central India's Madhya Pradesh state have staged a striking form of protest — symbolic 'water funerals' — against the Ken-Betwa River Link Project, a major infrastructure initiative they say puts their homes and livelihoods at risk.

During the demonstration, protesters lay on funeral pyres placed in the water, covered themselves in mud, and stood in the river with nooses around their necks. The dramatic imagery was intended to draw attention to what participants describe as an existential threat posed by the multi-billion-dollar project to their communities.

Demands for compensation

The protesters are calling for fair compensation and proper rehabilitation for families affected by the project. Many local residents depend on agriculture and land along the rivers, and they fear that altering the waterways will strip them of their means of survival, not just their physical homes.

Authorities' response

Officials have stated that families eligible for compensation are being resettled and compensated as part of the project's implementation. However, the scale and intensity of the protest suggest that at least some affected communities do not consider the current process adequate or fair.

The Ken-Betwa link is part of a broader Indian effort to connect rivers across the country in order to redistribute water resources between regions. Large-scale infrastructure projects of this kind have historically faced significant resistance from local communities in India, as they often displace large numbers of people and disrupt land ownership.