3 days ago
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.
