On September 7, a few hundred fishers, mostly Adivasis, participated in a bike rally to protest a proposed floating solar power project on the Panchet dam. It is a 66-year-old multipurpose project located across the river Damodar, along the border of the eastern states of West Bengal and Jharkhand.

The rally started from Maheshnadi checkpost in Neturia block of Purulia district, West Bengal, and travelled a five-km stretch to Panchet Zero Point in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district.

The fishers staged a demonstration , shouting slogans like “DVC Murdabaad” (down with DVC), “DVC hosiayar” (beware), and “solar project bandh karo” (scrap the solar project).

DVC refers to the Damodar Valley Corporation, a public sector utility that owns and operates the Panchet dam, where floating solar power

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