From the vantage point, the greyish-green Siang river and the hills it snakes between are serene. The Siang, which unleashes its fury in the monsoons, is almost languid in the winter. The fields on either side are lush with crops grown by farmers from the surrounding villages — paddy, millets, greens and vegetables — and trees laden with the region’s famous oranges. “You just need to see this view to understand why people here instinctively oppose a dam on the river. That land by the river is our livelihood. Once it goes underwater, we will lose everything,” says Dubit Siram, 30. His village, Parong, is one of three along the Siang in Arunachal Pradesh earmarked as possible sites for what will be India’s largest hydropower project, the proposed Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP). While a large section of residents from the Adi tribe from villages in the state’s Upper Siang and Siang districts fear the loss of their farmlands and homes to the proposed project, they are now facing increasing pressure from the government to let the work begin. Earlier this month, the state requisitioned the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) to tackle any resistance to the project. The government’s stand is that the SUMP is not “just any hydropower project”, but an effort essential to “save” the river by countering the effects of China’s dam building activities further upstream in Tibet. As reported by news agencies this week, China has approved the construction of what will be the world’s largest hydropower dam, kicking off the long-talked about project on the eastern rim of the Tibetan plateau, close to Arunachal Pradesh, that has the potential to affect millions downstream in India and Bangladesh. As authorities press for a Pre-Feasibility Report (PFR), a preliminary analysis to assess the probable cost of a project and its feasibility in a given area, this belt has become a hotspot of activity and deepening fault lines. While the state is pushing to begin the surveys this winter, the affected villages are witnessing demonstrations, meetings and mobilisation drives against this almost everyday. Dependence on agriculture “The land by the river is the only plain area here where we can grow our crops. Nearly everybody is dependent on agriculture here. There are limited government jobs, no industries, no factories or other opportunities in this remote place. We feed our families off the farms and sell produce to educate our children. If our land is submerged, there is nothing for us,” says Tarik Gao, 47, another resident of Parong and a member of the village panchayat. SUMP has faced opposition since it was first proposed by the NITI Aayog in 2017. But the push for it — and the opposition against it — increased this year. While government functionaries say the precise scale of the project will only be ascertained after feasibility surveys, a preliminary report submitted by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) in December 2022 to the Central Electrical Authority was for an 11,000-MW project with a reservoir capacity of 9 billion cubic metres. This makes the project several times larger in scale than other projects currently in the works in the country. The three sites earmarked for SUMP are Parong and Dite Dime in Siang district, and Ugeng in Upper Siang district. The Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Forum (SIFF), which is leading the protests and comprises farmers from the affected region, estimates that 13 villages are at risk of being completely submerged, while farmlands could be submerged at 27 others. The Adi residents here revere the Siang as a provider, referring to it as Aane (mother) Siang. Cultivation on its banks was encouraged and facilitated by the state after Independence to move away from shifting cultivation in the hills. So while settled agriculture along the river — or pani kheti as locals call it — is 60 years old among the farmers of this belt, they are now completely dependent on it. “Look around you,” says Gao, pointing to the steep hill further up the village. “It is jungles and rocks. There is no water there. Where will we go and where will we farm?” The residents are especially worried over the state’s decision this month to deploy nine companies of the CAPF and additional police forces at the proposed project sites and NHPC offices. The forces have not yet arrived but news of the decision spread panic and suspicion and has lent greater urgency to those opposing the project, spurring demonstrations in different villages. Their fear has a precedent — in 2016, two anti-dam activists were gunned down by the police in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang. “We are worried that if they (Central forces) come, they will restrict our movement and hold us captive in our villages so the survey can happen. We cannot allow such zor-zabardasti (coercion),” says Opak Gao, 57. She is one of the women from Parong who were, until recently, keeping a vigil near the survey site to prevent the entry of officials. With harvest season picking up pace, the women have halted their vigil for the time being. A defunct school in their village has been picked as one of the places to accommodate the forces, and the district administration has issued instructions for it to be prepared for their arrival. The night after a water connection to the school was set up, some unidentified protesters broke and removed the pipe. In the face of swelling discontent, Chief Minister Pema Khandu travelled to Boleng, the district headquarters of Siang district, last week to make an appeal to the locals. CM visit and ‘water bomb’ The Siang originates near Mount Kailash in Tibet, where it is known as the Yarlung Tsangpo. It traverses over 1,000 km eastward before forming a horseshoe bend around the towering Namcha Barwa peak and entering Arunachal Pradesh as the Siang. Further downstream, in Assam, it joins tributaries like the Dibang and Lohit to become the Brahmaputra. On SUMP being touted as a counter to concerns over China planning the world’s largest dam at reportedly 60,000-MW capacity on the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet’s Medog county, officials say the Siang project and its reservoir could counter water diversion from the Tsangpo to water-scarce parts of China and the possibility of sudden release of water from such a dam. In his speech to the locals in Boleng, Khandu said such a dam in Tibet — and not the damming of the Siang — was the real existential threat to the Adi community. “It is not just the Siang area and the Adi people who will be affected. The effects will go down to the Brahmaputra in Assam and all the way to Bangladesh. The Adi community and the Siang are tied together since their origins. Do you want that in the winter, you’ll be able to walk on foot from the river’s east back to its west bank? … China will make its dam there for sure. It is just a matter of time. If they one day release the water, have you ever imagined the extent of damage it will do from Tuting to Pasighat? The impact will be so horrible that water will flow 15 metres over the town of Pasighat. Guwahati will also be submerged… This is not a hydropower dam. This is for the future of the Adi community, of the Siang river,” the CM had said. The term “water bomb” is one that is frequently used by government functionaries to warn residents about the possible effects of such a dam, even while the locals opposing the project remain sceptical, wondering if the claims are exaggerated. Chants on a bridge This Monday, dozens of villagers from Riew, another affected village, who are opposed to the project gathered on the Dite Dime bridge over the Siang. With chants led by the elders among them, they held a ritual praying for their land to be protected from the project. “We will become refugees like Chakmas and Hajongs. There is no question of compensation. We have been on this land for hundreds of years,” says Tashong Jamoh, 60, one of those who joined the rituals. He was speaking of the roughly one lakh Chakmas and Hajongs from the Chittagong Hill Tracts, then in east Pakistan and in present-day Bangladesh, who had fled to Arunachal Pradesh since the 1960s after their land was submerged by the Kaptai dam project. Unlike many other more strident local voices against the dam, Mongor Tamuk, 39, another resident of Riew at the ritual, says he could have been on board “if the system was good”. “They have to look after our basics before talking about national issues. We cannot be treated like bali ka bakra (sacrificial lambs). Whatever they are doing, they are doing by force. They want to send forces here instead of coming to our village and talking to us. There was only one public meeting in our village on this issue in September, which was organised by the All Riew Students’ Union instead of by them,” he says. The other such meeting this year, addressed by local MLAs and SIFF leaders, was held in October in Yingkiong, the Upper Siang district headquarters. This too was organised by the All Upper Siang District Students’ Union. An attempt at a public meeting by the Siang District Collector in Parong in October was boycotted by most residents who say they want conversations with ‘decision makers’ in the government instead. Meanwhile, state government representatives insist that they want dialogue. Arunachal Cabinet Minister Ojing Tasing, the MLA from the Pangin constituency in Siang, claims that attempts at dialogue are being stonewalled by those opposed to the project. Tasing, who was incidentally one of the biggest leaders of the anti-dam movement in the same region against projects on the Siang in the 2010s, says, “When a representative goes to a village, activists don’t let people meet them. When I went to the meeting in Riew, they did not allow us to make our presentation. The government is clear it wants to talk, but the people are being misled.” He says the Central and state governments are looking to offer “India’s best compensation” to those affected, “but they need to come to the table to discuss it”. However, even those not opposing the project say they need more than just the government’s word. These include Tamat Pabin, a Gaon Bura (a village-level functionary) from Parong, who claims to be “neutral” on the subject. Gaon Buras from the affected districts have been called for meetings at the offices of their respective District Collectors multiple times this year to create support for the surveys. “It is certain that we will lose our farmlands, but the District Collector has said that villagers will get four to five the normal compensation because it’s a project of national importance. He said those who lose their houses will be rehabilitated, and medical facilities and schools will be set up for development. Those not opposed to the project say it must be ensured that when the compensation comes, it comes directly to us, not through third parties. But these are things that have been promised; there is nothing on paper,” says Pabin. Despite the resistance on the ground, the government says it is confident of starting the surveys soon. “To be frank, there is a lot of push from both the Centre and the state government to move ahead with this project, given its importance, but there is a lot of objection from the SIFF. Naturally, there are objections to every dam project. We are working on how to win the confidence of the people, whether it takes 10 days or 10 months,” says Ninong Ering, West Pasighat MLA and advisor to the Minister for Hydro Power Development. Local NHPC officials said the “campaign” for outreach to villagers will now be conducted by members of village-level sub-committees, the SUMP Development Committee, constituted by the state, which villagers in favour of the survey have been called to join. “We want to explain to people that the survey is a very preliminary step. Based on this survey, one of the three sites will be selected. After that, there will be extensive investigation, the environmental impact assessment will be done and the compensation related data will be collected. Public hearings will be conducted before the DPR (detailed project report) is sent for approval. Without public approval, no funds will be allotted to the project,” said the official. But Gegong Jijong, president of Yingkiong-based SIFF, says the resistance to this first step will continue. “If the PFR finds the area feasible, there will be no turning back. Such a big dam has never been built anywhere in this country, that too right among human settlements.”
