Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu has convened a meeting with representatives of the Adi Students’ Union (AdiSU Apex) and the ABK Youth Wing on October 13 to discuss concerns surrounding the proposed Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP).
The meeting is expected to give community representatives a direct opportunity to present their objections and seek clarification from the government, amid intensifying opposition to survey and pre-feasibility activities in the Siang Valley.
Growing Tensions in the Siang Valley
Resistance to large dam projects on the Siang River has continued for decades, but tensions have sharpened following renewed government efforts to conduct pre-feasibility studies for the proposed project, which is estimated at over 11,000 MW and planned for execution by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC).
The Upper Siang district administration has ordered the preventive detention of four persons under the Arunachal Pradesh Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2014, amid escalating violence and arson linked to the pre-feasibility report activities. Gatherings of five or more people have been banned in parts of Upper Siang amid law and order concerns.
Protest groups, including the Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Forum (SIFF), have raised concerns over possible ecological disruption, seismic risks and displacement in the Siang valley. The apex traditional Adi body, Adi Bane Kebang United (ABKU), rejected the pre-feasibility report after a consultative meeting at Komkar, demanding that the project be scrapped and survey teams withdrawn — though its claims about the scale of displacement could not be independently verified.
Government: Only a Technical Study So Far
Khandu has maintained that the pre-feasibility report is a technical study. He has said that if experts find the project cannot be built, there will be no further process — and that a viable project would still have to pass a social impact assessment, an environmental impact assessment and a detailed project report with public consultation before any final decision.
Rural Development Minister Ojing Tasing has said national security considerations cannot be compromised, pointing to upstream infrastructure developments across the border, while asserting that a large majority of villagers in potentially affected areas support the project. The Deputy Commissioner of Siang has similarly claimed that opposition does not reflect the broader sentiment on the ground — claims that protest groups dispute.
AdiSU has meanwhile urged the administration to withdraw paramilitary forces deployed in Siang district and suspend survey-related activities until community consent is obtained.
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