Social activist Amit Bhatnagar has suspended his hunger strike against the Ken-Betwa river interlinking project, citing what he described as a “positive attitude” from the authorities towards the concerns of communities facing displacement and loss of land.

In a statement issued on Thursday night (July 23), Bhatnagar said the fast was “on hold” after the administration announced that officials would visit every village affected by the project to identify eligible people whose names had been left out of compensation lists. A representative of the Jai Kisan Organisation will also participate in the exercise, he said.

Bhatnagar, however, made it clear that suspending the fast did not mean an end to the movement.

“From this day forth, I pledge to undertake a ‘Nyay Satyagraha’ (a struggle for justice). I will not rest until justice is secured for the very last eligible person affected by this project,” he said, The Wire reported.

He said he would travel across the affected villages and continue the campaign, while cooperating with constructive steps taken by the administration and monitoring whether its assurances were fulfilled. He also warned that further phases of the agitation could be launched if required.

Bhatnagar, who was admitted to hospital on July 19, will remain under medical care until his health improves. July 23 marked the 18th day of his hunger strike.

The fast was part of a wider agitation against the Ken-Betwa river interlinking project, with predominantly indigenous communities protesting since July 3 near the Barana river close to Kupi village in Chhatarpur district. The protesters have been demanding fair compensation for land and homes that they are expected to lose because of the project.

The Madhya Pradesh police had earlier removed Bhatnagar from the protest site and taken him to Chhatarpur District Hospital while dispersing other demonstrators. The agitation followed an earlier protest in April, during which demonstrators adopted unusual forms of protest, including covering their faces with mud, lying on wooden funeral pyres beside the river and wearing loose nooses around their necks.

Even after being taken to hospital on July 19, Bhatnagar had refused to call off his fast.

“I will not break my hunger strike, even if I have to lose my life,” Bhatnagar had said.

“If they force feed me, then I will stop drinking water and taking breaths.”

Several appeals had meanwhile been made to persuade him to end the fast. More than 300 activists and concerned citizens from across the country wrote to him on July 20, urging him to withdraw his indefinite hunger strike so that he could continue leading the campaign against the project and alleged injustices surrounding rehabilitation and compensation.

“The government removing the protesting people and you from the andolan site on the 17th day of the resumption of the Chita Andolan was an admission that the andolan was exposing the administration’s wrong doings and making national and international news…Now we humbly ask you to lead the affected communities further in their quest for justice and rehabilitation,” they wrote.

“You have awakened the suffering people to raise their voices and the citizens across India. The country needs people like you alive to lead and show the way. The whole country is with you. We see you. We hear you. Please end your indefinite fast, so that you can finish what you started, with the people who need you most,” the letter added.