Arunachal: Civil society organisations urge President to withdraw troops from Siang dam site

More than 100 civil society organisations and environmental groups have appealed to President Droupadi Murmu to withdraw paramilitary forces deployed to facilitate a pre-feasibility survey for the 11,000-megawatt hydropower dam on the Siang River in Arunachal Pradesh.

The Upper Siang Hydropower Project in the Upper Siang district of the state is seen as a strategic move to counter China's hydel projects on the Yarlung Zangbo (Brahmaputra) river, particularly a 60,000 MW super dam in Tibet's Medog county.

Fearing displacement and adverse environmental impacts, local indigenous peoples, predominantly from the Adi tribe, have been protesting against the project.

According to reports, the government began deploying Central Armed Police Force personnel to the district last week to facilitate a pre-feasibility survey, prompting peaceful protests in the valley.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Thursday said the government will not pursue a hydropower project if the local people do not want it.

A total of 109 people's organisations and environmental groups from across the country, especially from states in the Himalayan region, have sent an urgent appeal to the President demanding the withdrawal of paramilitary troops from the Siang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh.

Also Read: 'If you don’t want hydropower project, there won’t be...but': Arunachal CM

Their letter said India is a signatory to conventions and climate treaties that pledge to protect not just the rights of indigenous people and their livelihoods but also the biodiversity and ecosystems they depend on for survival.

The Siang district in Arunachal Pradesh is known for its rich biodiversity, particularly within the Dihang-Dibang Biosphere Reserve.

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, to which India is a signatory, gives Indigenous peoples the right to give or withhold consent on any activities impacting their lands, resources, livelihoods, and health, the civil society organisations and environmental groups said in their open letter to the president.

They said it is disturbing that the state and central governments have reneged on their promise made a few months ago that no activity of the project will be initiated without the consent of the people.

The letter highlighted recent evidence of the hazardous nature of these hydropower dams in the Himalayan region.

Many parts of the Western Himalayas have seen an unprecedented rise in the frequency and intensity of climatic events like floods, glacial lake bursts, cloud bursts, landslides, sinking land, and avalanches in the past few years, it said.

The 2013 Uttarakhand floods led to the deaths of over 5,000 people and damage to multiple hydro projects. In 2021, an avalanche in Chamoli led to catastrophic floods that destroyed hydropower infrastructure and claimed over 200 lives.

In 2023, a glacial lake outburst in Sikkim destroyed the Teesta III Dam. The Malana Dam in Himachal Pradesh burst due to a sudden flood upstream, the CSOs said.

They added that these events not only destroyed hydropower infrastructure worth hundreds of crores but also swept away public infrastructure and private properties, including houses, farms, and fields downstream of the dams.

Flood and landslide-related casualties have also been on the rise in the Himalayan region in recent years. These events are increasing the disaster potential of the region, as shown by numerous scientific studies, the letter said.

A recent study by NASA projects over a 30 per cent increase in landslide hazards by the end of the century compared to baseline levels recorded between 1990 and 2014.

The areas around and downstream of dams are the most vulnerable to landslides and subsidence due to slope destabilisation caused by blasting and excavation.

The people of the Siang Valley are well aware of the sensitivity of their landscape, the rapidly changing and unpredictable climatic conditions, and the possible hazards associated with such massive constructions in this topography, the letter said.

Further, the CSOs said there is a serious need for India to review its hydropower plans in the Himalayas, as river discharges are reducing, leading to a drop in hydropower generation for a large part of the year.

Entities like the NHPC have repeatedly failed to commission mega projects on time due to the aforementioned challenges, lack of necessary geological risk assessments, or disaster potential assessments. They have been running losses, which puts a huge dent in the public exchequer.

This is also exemplified by the situation at the under-construction 2,000 MW Subansiri Lower Hydropower Project on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border, they claimed.