We alert our people when we spot any new vehicles movement in our area,” says Opang Boko, 50, a farmer and an anti-dam activist of Komkar village in Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh. In June 2023, anti-dam activists and farmers detained two NHPC surveyors who were conducting a pre-feasibility survey for the construction of a dam in Parong village. Later, they freed them after lodging a first information report.
While the Centre proposes to construct a Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP) or high dam on the Siang river, tribal farmers of many villages like Riga, Parong, Sitang and Simong are acting like vigilantes to stop its pre-feasibility survey.
The Siang originates from the Mansarovar lake region near Mount Kailash of Tibet, where it is known as the Yarlung Tsangpo. It enters Arunachal Pradesh as Siang, Assam as Brahmaputra and Bangladesh as Jamuna before its confluence with the Ganga.
Villagers are upset because the SUMP can potentially submerge over 300 villages and displace around 1.5 lakh indigenous members of the Adi tribe, including the district headquarters of Yingkiong. Locals don’t want to lose their land and ancestral heritage. They consider the Siang as indispensable to their cultural beliefs and sustenance.
“Once we spot strangers through vehicle number plates, we check their identity proofs. If required, we also briefly detain them. We then take a written assurance from them not to visit these areas in future,” says Opang, who belongs to the Adi tribe. “Till now, we have refrained from violence,” adds Likeng Libang from Simong village.
However, the Centre has a different perspective. It plans to spend over Rs 9,000 crore for the construction of 12 hydropower stations, generating over 11,500 MW, so as to act as a strategic counter to China. The state government’s hardsell, saying displaced people would get free electricity, re-settlement in model villages, etc, hasn’t been able to soften their resistance so far.
Last August, the government awarded contracts to public undertakings — NHPC (two projects of 3,800 MW), SJVNL (five projects with 5,100 MW) and NEEPCO (five projects with 2600 MW) for the construction of the hydropower plants. Earlier, contracts were awarded to private parties but there was no forward movement due to public outrage.
Outcry continues
On July 8, the Arunachal Pradesh police detained anti-dam activists Ebo Mili and Dunge Apang, who wanted to submit a representation to visiting Union Minister of Power M L Khattar. He had flown in to sign the SUMP MoU with the hydropower companies so as to ensure it is executed in a time bound manner.
Locals recall that Chief Minister Pema Khandu had during his election campaign in May, promised that no dam would be constructed without the permission of the locals. Yet, days after his BJP swept the polls, his party MLA Alo Libang along with Deputy Commissioner Hage Lailang, held two public consultations to convince people to allow SUMP’s pre-feasibility survey citing national interest. The people rejected it outright.
Defence analysts view the project as India’s strategic counter to China’s hydel projects on the Tsangpo River. China is planning to build a ‘super dam’ that can generate a whopping 60,000 MW in Tibet’s Medog County. The dam, which is meant to divert the flow to water scarce regions of north China, would reduce the outflow in the Siang.
In 2022, a division bench of the high court allowed the construction of the dam as per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Resettlement Act 2013, which mandates consent from at least 70% of the affected people.
“People should at least allow PFR surveys with an open mind instead of opposing for the sake of opposition,” Tadum Libang, president, Adi Baane Kebang (ABK-apex), another front of the Adi community, told this newspaper. Last year, the ABK had agreed to the PFR survey but the Adi tribe rejected it saying it was his individual opinion.
People of Arunachal also flagged last year’s amendment to the Forest Conservation Act. Most of the Northeastern states objected to the amendment as it narrowed down the definition of forests and gave blanket exemption to linear projects of strategic importance within 100 km of international border. “I am sure that SUMP will be put in the strategic importance category, which would bring people in direct confrontation with the state government,” says Gegong Jijong, Siang Indigenous Farmers Forum (SIFF) president.
Risky terrain
Arunachal Pradesh falls in a region of very high seismicity. Historically, parts of the state have experienced seismic activity greater than 7 on the Richter scale. “Siang is an ecological fragile area and also falls under high seismic zone V. Building huge infrastructure is loaded with high risk in this region,” says Jijong.
In October 2023, a landslide damaged parts of an under-construction 2,000 MW Subansiri Lower Hydroelectric Project. The Subansiri river flows along the border of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. The project is located 2.3 km upstream of the Subansiri in Arunachal Pradesh. While the NHPC claimed it had no major impact on the project, a similar landslide there happened in March last year. The project was launched in 2005 but agitations led to its stalling from 2011 to 2019.
Burden of global emission
India’s thrust for hydel power is part of its strategy to achieve net zero emissions by 2070. India wants to achieve 50% of its power generation from non-fossil sources by 2030, which will help in reducing cumulative emissions by one billion tonnes. Currently, India produces over 70% of its power from coal-fuelled power plants. Only 3% of power is produced from nuclear energy sources while the rest is from renewable energy, including hydropower.
However, people from the affected villages demand a review of the Arunachal Pradesh State Hydropower Policy 2008, which encourages exploitation of the state’s water resources by both Indian and foreign companies. “Rather than exploiting our rivers further, we advocate for sustainable alternatives such as solar and wind energy,” said Dungge Apang, an environmental activist in Arunachal Pradesh.
“The Arunachal Pradesh State Hydropower Policy 2008 must be amended to suit the interest of the people of the state rather than transnational corporations and exploitative profit only oriented companies,” he suggests.