New Delhi: The Union government’s Par-Tapi-Narmada river-linking project has sparked tribal protests across South Gujarat, with communities demanding that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government call it off.The project is aimed at distributing supposedly excessive river water from Gujarat to Maharashtra. For this, seven dams – Jheri, Mohankavchali, Paikhed, Chasmandva, Chikkar, Dabdar and Kelwan – three diversion weirs (Paikhed, Chasmandva, and Chikar dams) and two tunnels spread across 5 km will be constructed. Added to that, a canal which will stretch over 300 km alongside six powerhouses will also be constructed.Of the seven dams, only Jheri falls in Maharashtra’s Nashik district. The rest of the dams fall in the Dharampur, Valsad, Navsari and Dang districts of South Gujarat.The idea of ‘excess’ water in a river is dubious. After the Union Cabinet cleared the Ken-Betwa river interlinking project in December 2021, Aathira Perinchery wrote for The Wire Science:… this notion of ‘surplus’ is often based on limited data and “a poor understanding of the role of natural flows, including floods and periodic droughts, in maintaining ecosystems and ecological processes”, many scientists, including noted hydrologist Jagdish Krishnaswamy, had written in a 2017 research communiqué.According to a National Water Development Agency (NWDA) report, about 6,065 ha of land area will be submerged due to the proposed reservoirs, affecting a total of 61 villages in Gujarat and Maharashtra, of which one will be fully submerged and the remaining 60 partly. The report added that a total of 2,509 families would be affected, of which 98 families are likely to be affected due to the creation of the Jheri reservoir, which is spread over six villages.In Gujarat, 793 families from 17 villages will be affected by the Kelwan reservoir, 563 families by the Dabdar reservoir across 11 villages, 379 families by Chasmandva reservoir spread over seven villages, 345 families would be affected by Chikkar reservoir across nine villages and 331 families would be affected due to Paikhed reservoir spread over 11 villages.However, environment activists told The Wire that these are conservative numbers and the realities on the ground could mean that more families will bear the brunt of the project. Also read: Ken-Betwa Interlink Means ‘Bundelkhand Will Suffer for Decades to Come’Akhil Chaudhary of the Adivasi Mukti Morcha, an organisation at the frontline of the protests, told The Wire:“The project is aimed at linking the big dams and seven reservoirs. This will involve creation of canal pipelines and increasing dam strength. The government has itself admitted 288 villages in Gujarat and 17 villages of Maharashtra will be affected, moreover, we do not feel that the process which is being adopted by the government is scientific, the project will shake up the natural ecosystem. Even nations such as the USSR and Australia had tried to implement similar systems but failed.”Until now, there have been four protest meetings on the issue, with the latest one held on March 21 in Kaprada of Valsad district. The first such protest meeting was held in Dharampur of Valsad district on February 28, the second one on March 5 in Vyara of Tapi district, and the third meet on March 11, in Dang district. Another protest rally is slated to take place on March 25, Friday in Gandhinagar. Congress MLA from Vansda Anant Patel told The Indian Express that over 5,000 people were expected to gather in Gandhinagar on March 25.Activist Romel Sutariya of the Adivasi kisan Sangharsh Morcha told The Wire:“We have been fighting for our land rights. The first concern is that there is a political concern. For 27 years the BJP has ruled the state, the Congress has failed to raise our voices, the protests and the acquisition for the Statue of Unity meant that too many of our tribals have lost their lands. More importantly, the model of natural systems recharging water have failed in other countries. So essentially, people will be losing their lands. The protest is against the dams as well as the canal and pipeline networks because of which people are set to lose approximately 10,000 hectares of land.” Meanwhile, tribals across the belt are continuing their ongoing struggle to seek compensation and rehabilitation after the construction of Sardar Patel’s ‘Statue of Unity’ in the region.