Burn us alive’: Inside MP’s ‘Chita Andolan’ #shorts #peektv

No mainstream media will show you this, but these visuals of a unique, one-of-a-kind protest will shock you. These are tribal men and women who are lying on symbolic pyres, who have tied symbolic nooses around their neck. They are saying that they are willing to give up their lives, they are willing to die on the Ken River where I am standing, if they don't get justice. These people are protesting against the Ken Betwa River Interlinking Project. The Prime Minister himself laid the foundation stone for this river interlinking project. The government says that this is going to transform Bundelkhand, which also happens to be one of the most water-scarce regions of the country. But these women, these women who have smeared mitti on their faces, who have tied these symbolic noses around their necks, they say these people are not going to get any benefits out of this project. This project has submerged as many as 21 villages, these people say. These men here, they say that they have not received adequate compensation and that there has been massive corruption as well in the doling out of these funds that were meant for compensation for their land These women say that their entire lives their livelihoods depend on the forest And when the forest is taken away from them, then they have nothing left. The tribal men and women, their entire identity is the forest. And this river linking project, according to independent estimates, will lead to the felling of 45 lakh trees. The ecologically sensitive Panna Reserve. Many environmentalists say that even that Panna Tiger Reserve is under threat because of this river interlinking project. The government maintains that all these people have received compensation, but they say that it's not adequate enough to compensate for the land that they've given up. This is the second round of such protests. The first time was in April when they had staged similar protests. After that, there seemed to have been some kind of olive branch that the government extended. But again, these people say that those were false assurances and they need adequate rehabilitation and compensation to be able to start a new life because their entire life is dependent on the forest.