Local police opened-fire at a gathering of 1500 people protesting the construction of the Kanhar Dam at 7 am on 14th April. Residents of the area, a majority of whom aretribals and Dalits, have been at loggerheads with the administration since 1973 when the Dam was originally conceived as an irrigation project. They feel that they have been repeatedly cheated out of proper rehabilitation and resettlement by the government. Akkukharwar from Sundari village, atribal leader of the movement, took a bullet and several others were grievously injured. It was a travesty as protestors stood their ground, holding photos of B.R. Ambedkar as they were commemorating ‘Save the Constitution Day’ on his 125th birth anniversary.

After an initial round of land acquisition between 1979 and 1982 the project failed to take off and was completely abandoned by 1989. Even though many gave up their land right in that period, they were never rehabilitated to a new area and so continued to live there. There were failed attempts to restart the project in 2011 and 2012, but the construction work suddenly resumed on 5th December 2014 despite the fact that there were no fresh social and environmental impact assessments (EIA) in place.

Since then, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a stay order on any further construction until a fresh round of EIA and clearances are sought. The order came on 24th December 2014 after concerned activists from Vindhya Bachao and People’s Union for Civil Liberties filed a petition pointing out that the Uttar Pradesh Government’s actions are technically illegal.Over February and March 2015 the NGT also failed to get responses from the State government and Union environment ministry when queried on the status of forest clearances. There are two legalities that are particularly applicable to the Kanhar Dam Project.

The project requires fresh clearances as per the provisions of the EIA notification, 2006. A letter from the Ministry of Environment and Forest dated 15th January 2008 says: “It is advised to the State Pollution Control Boards not to grant/extend/revalidate No Objection Certificate/Consent to Establish without advising the proponent to seek environment clearance under EIA Notification, 2006.” Projects cannot be resumed without this.


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