Anti-dam protests unfold in Arunachal Pradesh; villagers level to potential submergence of sacred Mishmi tribal cultural

An intense opposition to a proposed mega-dam within the Siang River belt has set off a sequence of protests towards different hydropower tasks in Arunachal Pradesh. Photograph: Particular association.

An intense opposition to a proposed mega-dam within the Siang River belt has set off a sequence of protests towards different hydropower tasks in Arunachal Pradesh.

A society representing a number of villages wrote to the Dibang Valley district authorities on Might 29, voicing its “sturdy and reasoned objection” to the 400 megawatt Mihundo (Mihumdon) Hydroelectric Challenge proposed on the Dri River.

Scheduled to be commissioned in 2026, this run-of-the-river undertaking was assigned to the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam.

The Ekhomey Mowo Welfare Society, based mostly in Anini, the district headquarters, mentioned the undertaking was unlawful because the necessary free, prior, and knowledgeable consent was not obtained from the Gram Sabha or the residents of Angrim Valley who can be affected.

The society’s common secretary, Morey Molo, and treasurer Aisi Mow underlined the district’s seismic and ecological vulnerability, asserting that the locals “don’t want dam-based improvement on our ancestral lands”.

Opposition to the Dri River undertaking

The opposition to the Dri River undertaking was a day after the residents of the distant Nukung and Mla villages aired their resistance to the proposed 1200 MW Kalai-II Hydroelectric Challenge on the Lohit River within the Anjaw district throughout a public session and social influence evaluation evaluation.

In line with the social influence evaluation report ready by the GB Pant Nationwide Institute of Himalayan Setting, Nukung and Mla villages can be severely affected by the undertaking.

In a letter to the Anjaw Deputy Commissioner, the Nukung Welfare Society mentioned the undertaking was unacceptable to the indigenous communities within the space. “The whole obliteration of our ancestral land by a undertaking we didn’t consent to is unacceptable and unlawful,” Roshan Tawsik, the society’s chairman, mentioned.

The villagers identified that the potential submergence of sacred Mishmi tribal cultural and religious websites by the mega-dam was of explicit concern. These websites embody Kutung Graam, the abode of the group’s supreme deity and Parshuram Kund within the downstream.

In the meantime, the Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Discussion board vowed to accentuate its agitation towards the proposed 11,000 MW Siang Higher Multi-purpose Challenge and the “militarisation” of the focused websites alongside the Siang River. The federal government has been pushing this undertaking to be executed by the NHPC, arguing that it will assist minimise the antagonistic influence of a 60,000 MW hydroelectric undertaking China has been planning on the Yarlung Tsangpo River upstream.