Arunachal village chiefs opposed the mega dam

Guwahati

Village chiefs along the Siang River in Arunachal Pradesh have opposed the proposed 12,500 MW hydropower project.

Chiefs of villages in Siang, East Siang and Upper Siang districts that could be affected by the Siang Upper Multi-Purpose Project (SUMP) said on Wednesday that they will not allow a potentially risky mega dam to be built on their ancestral lands.

Appealing to Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Pema Khandu, they said the government was militarizing the Siang Belt to crack down on people opposing the “illegal” pre-feasibility report for SUMP in the name of “national security”.

They also said that in the eyes of the commission, the hydropower lobby has used China Bogie to advance a destructive project for the ecology of the region. They also rejected the argument that the 12,500 MW dam was necessary to prevent possible diversion of the Yarlung Sangpo upstream of the Siang, where two other rivers flow as the Brahmaputra in Assam.

Reminding the government that Siang depends on tributaries like Yamne, Simang and Siom instead of the Yarlung Sangpo in Tibet, the village chiefs said it was against the law to strictly follow the Gauhati High Court order to follow the SUMP.

Ahead of Mr. Khandu’s scheduled visit to Boleng, the headquarters of Siang district, some villagers also burnt his effigy.