Anti-dam protests spread in Arunachal Pradesh; villagers point to potential submergence of sacred Mishmi tribal cultural
An intense opposition to a proposed mega-dam in the Siang River belt has set off a chain of protests against other hydropower projects in Arunachal Pradesh.
A society representing several villages wrote to the Dibang Valley district authorities on May 29, voicing its 'strong and reasoned objection' to the 400 megawatt Mihundo (Mihumdon) Hydroelectric Project proposed on the Dri River.
Scheduled to be commissioned in 2026, this run-of-the-river project was assigned to the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam.
The Ekhomey Mowo Welfare Society, based in Anini, the district headquarters, said the project was illegal as the mandatory free, prior, and informed consent was not obtained from the Gram Sabha or the residents of Angrim Valley who would be affected.
The society's general secretary, Morey Molo, and treasurer Aisi Mow underlined the district's seismic and ecological vulnerability, asserting that the locals 'do not want dam-based development on our ancestral lands'.
Opposition to the Dri River project
The opposition to the Dri River project was a day after the residents of the remote Nukung and Mla villages aired their resistance to the proposed 1200 MW Kalai-II Hydroelectric Project on the Lohit River in the Anjaw district during a public consultation and social impact assessment review.
According to the social impact assessment report prepared by the GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment, Nukung and Mla villages would be severely affected by the project.
In a letter to the Anjaw Deputy Commissioner, the Nukung Welfare Society said the project was unacceptable to the indigenous communities in the area. 'The total obliteration of our ancestral land by a project we did not consent to is unacceptable and illegal,' Roshan Tawsik, the society's chairman, said.
The villagers pointed out that the potential submergence of sacred Mishmi tribal cultural and spiritual sites by the mega-dam was of particular concern. These sites include Kutung Graam, the abode of the community's supreme deity and Parshuram Kund in the downstream.
Meanwhile, the Siang Indigenous Farmers' Forum vowed to intensify its agitation against the proposed 11,000 MW Siang Upper Multi-purpose Project and the 'militarisation' of the targeted sites along the Siang River. The government has been pushing this project to be executed by the NHPC, arguing that it would help minimise the adverse impact of a 60,000 MW hydroelectric project China has been planning on the Yarlung Tsangpo River upstream.
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The Hindu
a day ago
- The Hindu
Anti-dam protests spread in Arunachal Pradesh; villagers point to potential submergence of sacred Mishmi tribal cultural
An intense opposition to a proposed mega-dam in the Siang River belt has set off a chain of protests against other hydropower projects in Arunachal Pradesh. A society representing several villages wrote to the Dibang Valley district authorities on May 29, voicing its 'strong and reasoned objection' to the 400 megawatt Mihundo (Mihumdon) Hydroelectric Project proposed on the Dri River. Scheduled to be commissioned in 2026, this run-of-the-river project was assigned to the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam. The Ekhomey Mowo Welfare Society, based in Anini, the district headquarters, said the project was illegal as the mandatory free, prior, and informed consent was not obtained from the Gram Sabha or the residents of Angrim Valley who would be affected. The society's general secretary, Morey Molo, and treasurer Aisi Mow underlined the district's seismic and ecological vulnerability, asserting that the locals 'do not want dam-based development on our ancestral lands'. Opposition to the Dri River project The opposition to the Dri River project was a day after the residents of the remote Nukung and Mla villages aired their resistance to the proposed 1200 MW Kalai-II Hydroelectric Project on the Lohit River in the Anjaw district during a public consultation and social impact assessment review. According to the social impact assessment report prepared by the GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment, Nukung and Mla villages would be severely affected by the project. In a letter to the Anjaw Deputy Commissioner, the Nukung Welfare Society said the project was unacceptable to the indigenous communities in the area. 'The total obliteration of our ancestral land by a project we did not consent to is unacceptable and illegal,' Roshan Tawsik, the society's chairman, said. The villagers pointed out that the potential submergence of sacred Mishmi tribal cultural and spiritual sites by the mega-dam was of particular concern. These sites include Kutung Graam, the abode of the community's supreme deity and Parshuram Kund in the downstream. Meanwhile, the Siang Indigenous Farmers' Forum vowed to intensify its agitation against the proposed 11,000 MW Siang Upper Multi-purpose Project and the 'militarisation' of the targeted sites along the Siang River. The government has been pushing this project to be executed by the NHPC, arguing that it would help minimise the adverse impact of a 60,000 MW hydroelectric project China has been planning on the Yarlung Tsangpo River upstream.
The Hindu
4 days ago
- The Hindu
Rights groups back anti-dam protests in Arunachal Pradesh
At least three rights groups have expressed their support for the ongoing protests against a proposed mega dam in the Siang region of Arunachal Pradesh. These organisations – Manipur's Centre for Research and Advocacy, Sikkim's Affected Citizens of Teesta, and Tripura's Borok People's Human Rights Organisation – have also condemned the Arunachal Pradesh government for booking lawyer-activist Ebo Mili. A first information report was registered against him following a complaint by P.K. Thungon, the Deputy Commissioner of the Siang district, for allegedly provoking the Adi community villagers to resist the security forces at the project site to facilitate a survey and the pre-feasibility report. Also Read | Arunachal groups protest NHPC's mega dam site survey Villagers of central Arunachal Pradesh's Siang, Upper Siang, and West Siang districts have been protesting the security build-up at the site for the proposed 11,000 megawatt Siang Upper Multi-purpose Hydroelectric Project (SUMP) since May 22. The project entails a 300-metre-high dam on the Siang River, downstream of the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet, where China is planning a 60,000 MW project. Apart from fearing displacement and an ecological disaster, the villagers are against the dam as they revere the river as 'Ane', meaning 'mother' in the language of the Adi indigenous community. 'It is highly unfortunate that the government of India pursue the survey for SUMP without the free, prior, and informed consent of the Adi people of Arunachal Pradesh. The government of Arunachal Pradesh's notification on December 6, 2024, to deploy Central Armed Police Forces in the Siang district to facilitate the pre-feasibility study of the Siang dam and subsequent deployment violates indigenous peoples' rights,' the three rights bodies said. 'The deployment of security forces and militarisation of the dam site in May 2025, despite the opposition and call for dialogue by the affected Adi people, undermines all semblance of democracy. The Adi tribe is worried about the potential impacts of the SUMP on their land, ecology, forest, livelihood, culture, identity, involuntary displacement, increased disasters, and influx of non-Indigenous populations, downstream impacts and survival threats to their future,' the organisations said. They said the SUMP would cause significant downstream effects such as widespread flooding in Assam, apart from adversely affecting the Adi people and their land. 'The disaster risk posed by the dam is further heightened by the region's high seismicity and the worsening effects of climate change, including rapid glacier melting, deforestation, landslides, floods in the Himalayan region,' the organisations said. It cited the October 2023 glacial lake outburst disaster in Sikkim and the 2011 earthquake that damaged the 1,200 MW Teesta III and other dams in the Himalayan State as cases in point. The three organisations urged the Centre to hold meaningful dialogue with the Adi people who would be affected by the SUMP and drop the charges against Mr. Mili.
Scroll.in
4 days ago
- Scroll.in
Great Nicobar Project: Tribal communities' concerns being examined, says minister
Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram on Monday said that concerns raised by tribal communities in Great Nicobar about a proposed mega infrastructure project on the island were ' under examination ', PTIreported. Oram was responding to a question from a journalist about whether his ministry had looked into complaints about alleged violations of the Forest Rights Act during the implementation of the Great Nicobar project. 'In Parliament too this question was raised in Rajya Sabha, I had answered it,' he added, according to The Indian Express. The minister was referring to a questioned posed by Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale in March. The Rs 72,000-crore Great Nicobar project involves the construction of a Rs 36,000-crore trans-shipment port in addition to an international airport, a power plant, a township and tourism infrastructure spread over more than 160 square kilometres of land. When asked further about what the ministry aims to verify, Oram said on Monday: 'In a tribal or Schedule area we have to check whether a Gram Sabha was held, what were its decisions and recommendations and whether they were violated. While we look at the conduct of a Gram Sabha, the environmental impact assessment is looked at by another ministry.' In contrast to his statements on Monday, Oram had claimed during a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on March 12 that he was not aware of any objections from the tribal communities of Great Nicobar. Oram had then asserted that the project will not have any negative impact on the environment or the tribal communities there, that no one will be displaced and that only a little more than 7 square km of tribal reserve land will be used for the project. He had also professed ignorance of a video report with the opinions of these two communities put together by anthropologist Vishvajit Pandya as part of an empowered committee constituted in September 2020 by the island administration for assessing the impact of the mega-project. In March, Gokhale had inquired about the action taken by the tribal affairs ministry in response to a letter from the tribal council of Great Nicobar Island, which withdrew its no-objection certificate for the denotification of tribal reserve land linked to the project. The tribal council had withdrawn its NOC in November 2022, opposing the denotification of 84.1 square km of tribal reserve and the diversion of 130.75 square km of forest land. It alleged that the decision had been made without the consent of the island's indigenous communities and that crucial information had been withheld, The Indian Express reported. Oram's statements in the Rajya Sabha were in line with the government's public position on the project but a closer scrutiny of the facts, including his own statements in the recent past, reveals a conflicting picture, Scroll has previously reported.
