Latest news with #AffectedCitizensofTeesta
Scroll.in
25-07-2025
- Politics
- Scroll.in
Living in the shadow of glaciers and dams: A Himalayan ticking time-bomb
Play Chungthang is a small town located at an altitude of around 5,500 feet above sea level in Sikkim. Wooden homes line its streets and prayer flags flutter in the mountain breeze. But the picturesque town is now eclipsed by an unmissable sight: a 60-metre-high hydropower dam, ripped apart at its centre. It stands as a reminder of the devastation caused by the deadly glacial lake outburst flood of 2023. A GLOF occurs when a lake formed by glacial melt suddenly collapses or overflows – triggered by events like heavy rainfall, landslides, or earthquakes. On October 3, 2023, the South Lhonak lake burst and the waters cascaded down, destroying one of India's largest hydropower projects, the 1,200 megawatt Teesta III dam at Chungthang. As the dam's debris swirled downstream in the Teesta river, the flood unleashed further destruction. At least 57 people were killed across Sikkim and West Bengal. A year and half later, the government sanctioned the rebuilding of the Teesta III dam. 'If they build the dam again, there is no future for the people of Chungthang,' said Mayalmit Lepcha, general secretary of Affected Citizens of Teesta, a Sikkim-based movement that has been resisting dam construction for nearly two decades. The Teesta is dotted with nearly 10 large hydropower projects and locals blame these dams for amplifying the 2023 flood's impact. Scroll's Vaishnavi Rathore and Kritika Pant travelled along the Teesta, meeting survivors of the 2023 flood, many of whom are still living in relief camps. In this report, supported by the Pultizer Center, they explore the question: Should India be building dams in a region vulnerable to glacial lake bursts?
The Hindu
27-05-2025
- Politics
- 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.
