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After months of speculation and orders from top governmental offices in Arunachal Pradesh, central armed forces have been deployed in two districts of the Siang Valley to conduct a survey for the pre-feasibility report (PFR) of the proposed 11.2 GW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP) or the Siang Dam.
The move has been opposed by student organisations as well as residents of more than 27 villages along the Siang river, the main channel of the Brahmaputra, even as the Arunachal government as well as Centre consider the dam crucial to counter China’s 60,000 MW Medog Dam upstream. Anti-dam activists have alleged that instead on maintaining law and order in the valley, a senior police official addressed a crowd urging them to support the dam.
On May 21, village residents of Beging, a small village situated in the Siang district along the river, shared visuals of the makeshift camps covered with blue tarpaulin. “With more than 27 villages along the Siang river anticipating irreversible impact on their dwellings, farms and houses have been opposing the survey and the dam. A security camp was established in Beging as some people thought otherwise and allowed the security men to camp,” Okit Jamoh, a local told Down To Earth (DTE).
The locals from the area believe that Beging will be the staging area for the survey. A video purportedly released on May 22 by members of the Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Forum (SIFF), an umbrella organisation which has been opposing dams on the Siang river, showed armed police personnel in civilian clothes as well paramilitary forces and a government official being confronted by the locals over movement of drilling machines to the camps.
While very few details have emerged on the deployment, residents from Beging and Geku told DTE about paramilitary deployment in their villages.
Earlier, in December 2024, the Arunachal government planned on deploying the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) which was opposed by the protesting locals.
On May 22, Inspector General of Police (Law and Order), Chuku Apa confirmed the deployment of the paramilitary forces in the villages to local news outlets. Sources in Arunachal Police told DTE that the paramilitary forces including Indo Tibetan Border Police and CAPF from the district headquarters of Boleng and Yingkiong have been deployed much earlier to prevent any law-and-order crisis related to the opposition against surveys for the dam.
Even as the Arunachal government including the chief minister have been sending out strong statements in support of the dam, anti-dam activists and local residents were angered by the support to the dam from the Superintendent of Police, Siang District, in Boleng at a meeting held in Riew village on May 13, where villagers had opposed military deployment earlier.
“The SP Boleng not only participated but also addressed residents in a manner akin to a representative or spokesperson for the dam developers. A rough translation of his speech suggests that he urged the villagers to agree to the PFR, stating that even if the present government falls, the next government will certainly succeed in conducting the PFR—perhaps in 10 years—but by then he might no longer be posted here. He went on to say that he shared this because he feels the villagers are like his own brothers,” stated a complaint by North East Human Rights, a non-profit from Itanagar to the Director General of Police. DTE tried to reach out to the concerned police officials who are yet to comment on the development. The story will be updated if there is a response from the state police department.
Jirbo Jamoh from the Adi Students’ Union (ADISU), a powerful students’ body representing the Adi tribe that dominates in the Siang valley, condemned the government for deployment of central forces and using government institutions to house the personnel.
“We are deeply disturbed by the recent forceful deployment of armed forces in Beging, a proposed area for PFR activity, despite significant protests from affected landowners. This heavy-handed approach is unjust and undermines the voices of those who will bear the brunt of these decisions,” Jamoh wrote, urging for constructive dialogue with the communities which may be impacted by the construction of the dams.
ADISU initially opposed the deployment of armed forces in schools of Siang district for the conduct of the PFR survey. “Despite our persistent efforts and the voices of our community echoing the need for a safe learning space, we are disheartened to see that the situation has simply shifted from [a school in] Boleng to Industrial Training Institute in Panging. This relocation does not resolve the underlying issues, and we stand firm in our belief that armed forces have no place within our schools,” Jamoh stated in a post on social media platform, Meta.
The Arunachal government, supported by the Centre, has been addressing meetings in the towns of the Siang Valley to drum up support for the dam citing the Medog Dam upstream. “China’s construction of the world’s largest hydropower dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo River poses significant risks to the water security, ecology, and livelihoods of millions of people downstream in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Bangladesh … The Siang dam project [is] of national importance and I am holding discussions with people regarding that. The project is needed to maintain our water security and if China uses their dam in future as a water bomb, we should be ready with our defence mechanism,” Chief Minister Pema Khandu reportedly said in January 2025.