About 600 people in Arunachal Pradesh’s Siang district defied inclement weather on Saturday to protest the “forceful survey cum pre-feasibility report (PFR)’ for a proposed 12,500 MW hydropower project on the Siang River.
The National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) is pursuing the project, which local people belonging primarily to the Adi community are against.
Saturday’s protest was organised at Dite Dime – one of the three proposed sites of the mega-dam project – by the All Adi Welfare Society, the Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Forum, and the Banggo Students’ Union.
The demonstration was a follow-up of a complaint lodged with Siang’s Superintendent of Police at district headquarters Boleng by the Parong village committee on August 30. The complaint was against the NHPC for “forceful implementation” of the PFR, which the anti-dam groups say is the stepping stone to constructing the dam.
“We complained because the villagers to be affected by the project held meetings with the Deputy Commissioners of Upper Siang and Siang districts on June 22 and June 24, respectively, to reject the survey or PFR unanimously. The resolution adopted by our village against the dam was submitted to the government on August 1,” Dubit Siram, a Parong village elder said.
Parong is among the three proposed sites along with Dite Dime and Uggeng. These villages are 14 km, 22 km, and 37 km from Boleng.
On July 20, the NHPC wrote to the Arunachal Pradesh government seeking round-the-clock security at all the proposed work sites for core drilling works followed by geophysical studies.
P.N. Thungon, the Siang Deputy Commissioner, issued an order on August 30 directing all head gaonburas (village chiefs), Panchayati Raj Institution leaders, and government servants to desist from participating in meetings that are “anti-government and anti-development” in nature.
