Why locals are protesting against the Upper Siang hydropower project in Arunachal Pradesh

The Upper Siang project

The Upper Siang project is a proposed 11,000 megawatt hydropower project on the Siang river in the Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh.

The Siang originates near Mount Kailash in Tibet, where it goes by the name of Tsangpo. It traverses more than 1,000 km eastward, before forming a horseshoe bend around the towering Namcha Barwa peak, and enters Arunachal Pradesh as the Siang. Further downstream, in Assam, the river becomes the mighty Brahmaputra.

In 2017, the government proposed to replace the planned 5,500 MW Siang Upper Stage-I and 3,750 MW Siang Upper Stage-II hydel projects with a single, multi-purpose project of higher capacity — the aforementioned Upper Siang project. Set to be built by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), the project would entail the construction of a 300-metre high dam, the largest in the subcontinent, when completed.

According to a November 2022 report by the Central Electrical Authority, there are 29 hydroelectric projects (installed capacity of over 25 MW) in the Siang river basin, with a combined installed capacity of 18,326 MW. The proposed Upper Siang project’s installed capacity is roughly 60% of this figure.

A section of the river Siang in Arunachal Pradesh. (Facebook/Pema Khandu)

But more than its hydropower potential, the dam is being projected as a strategic imperative to counter China’s hydel projects on the Tsangpo.

Officials have highlighted in particular the plan for a 60,000 MW ‘super dam’ in Tibet’s Medog county, right on the border with Arunachal Pradesh. The super dam’s installed capacity is almost three times that of the largest hydropower station on the planet — the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river in China’s Hubei province. It will be used to divert water to China’s water-scarce northern regions.

Officials have stated that the Upper Siang project will act as a reservoir to counter the effects of a potentially-reduced flow.

Course of the Siang

Environmental, social concerns

In the memorandum that three anti-dam organisations — the Siang Indigenous Farmers Forum (SIFF), Dibang Resistance, and North East Human Rights — intended to give Khattar, concerns regarding the project’s environmental and social impact are stated.

“Arunachal Pradesh already hosts numerous dams, and our rivers have borne the burden of hydroelectric projects for years. The proposed Siang mega dam threatens our ancestral abode that hosts delicate ecosystems, wildlife habitats, and biodiversity,” the memorandum states.

Activists are also concerned about the communities that will be displaced due to the project, which they say will submerge more than 300 villages belonging to the Adi tribe, including the Upper Siang district headquarters of Yingkiong.

“Siang and all the tribal territories of the state [have been the] Ancestral Heritage of our people [for] 1000 of years… generation after generation [has relied] on these rivers for our livelihoods, cultural practices, and sustenance. The proposed dam threatens our way of life,” the memorandum says.

SIFF activist Gegong Jijong, resident of Gette, one of the villages which could be impacted by the project, spoke to The Indian Express. “After all the villages in the valley along the Siang are submerged… where will we go? We can’t go further uphill where there is snow and ice… we also have to survive. There will be no farming, no gardens there,” he said.

Earlier this year, while campaigning for the Lok Sabha and state assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Pema Khandu acknowledged people’s apprehensions about the project, and said that it would go ahead “only with the people’s consent.”

Renewed push and resistance

Despite Khandu’s reassurance, authorities have seemingly hastened their pre-construction activity, in turn increasing the urgency among those resisting it. Senior NHPC officials met with Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein and others in Itanagar on June 25 “regarding early commencement of Siang basin projects”.

The Upper Siang district administration has also called multiple meetings this year to lay the ground for a pre-feasibility survey in the area, a preliminary analysis to assess the probable cost of a project and its feasibility in a given area. The NHPC has chosen three sites along the Siang — Ugeng, Dite Dime and Parong — for its feasibility study.

The minutes of one such meeting called last month state that people should cooperate with the government and “allow the taking up of survey works for national interest and area development”. The minutes also state that the survey work is “likely to be taken up shortly”. This meeting was chaired by the District Collector, and attended by the Suprintendent of Police, the local MLA, and representatives of dam-affected villages.

Authorities are in the process of launching a massive public outreach campaign in the district to drum up support for the project. The NHPC has sanctioned a Rs 325 crore CSR package which will be used for the implementation of livelihood schemes, as well as the development of health, education, and sports infrastructure. MoUs for these activities are currently being signed.

“It is a project of major national interest which a section of people is opposing. We are holding public awareness activities to convince them… There are a number of different activities going on, and we are in the middle of enabling surveys for a pre-feasibility survey,” Upper Siang DC Hage Lailang said.

Activists, however, are wary of framing the project in national interest terms. They are particularly concerned by a provision of last year’s Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act which exempts from clearance the diversion of forest land for strategic projects within 100 km from India’s borders.

“The portrayal of the Upper Siang dam as a national security relevance project is problematic, given the history of anti-dam resistance in the region,” activist Bhanu Tatak said.