Indigenous communities in Arunachal Pradesh's Siang Valley say they are facing police excess, arrests and heavy security deployment for opposing the proposed 11,500 MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP), speakers said at an online press conference organised by Youth for Himalaya.
The event brought together voices from Arunachal Pradesh and across the Himalayan region. Speakers said the proposed hydropower project threatens ancestral lands, river systems, livelihoods, cultural heritage and territorial rights.
The press conference followed events of 23 October 2026, when police action, arrests and the detention of young activists took place. Activists were held under the Arunachal Pradesh Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2014 (APUAPA), which speakers described as draconian. They said the incidents have raised questions about democratic rights, freedom of expression and the right to peaceful protest, as well as the safety of residents taking part in the movement.
Opposition to the project goes back nearly four decades and has continued despite changes in government, speakers said. The Adis, the largest of several tribal communities in the region, call the river Aane Siang, or Mother Siang. Their cultural practices, spiritual traditions, religious beliefs and agricultural systems are closely tied to the river and the ecosystems it sustains.
Tagori Mize, spokesperson of the Siang Indigenous Farmers' Forum (SIFF), said the community and individual landowners were never informed or consulted about the dam. He alleged that unlawful means were being used to manufacture majority consent and that signatures were being obtained by misleading people. He said the lack of credible information and evidence about the project had created deep mistrust, and that despite several meetings with government representatives, no meaningful effort had been made to address people's concerns.
Questioning the repeated invocation of national security, Mize said the people of the region are equally part of the nation. "Our forefathers protected this land against the British. We are proud Indians, yet we are being treated as though we do not belong to this country," he said.
Dubit Siram, general secretary of the SIFF Youth Wing, alleged unequal application of the law. "The law is applied differently to the company and government representatives than it is to ordinary people. There seems to be one set of rules for those in power and another for the common people," he said. He claimed nine Gaon Buras (village headmen) in Siang district had been either terminated or suspended for opposing the dam, and that government officials were being intimidated through notices into supporting the project.
According to the speakers, more than 3,000 paramilitary personnel are deployed across the three Adi districts of East Siang, Siang and Upper Siang. The Rapid Action Force was airlifted to Pasighat after the violent protest there on 23 October.
Siram said movement was being severely restricted during the harvest season. "Even farmers are not allowed to travel in groups to their fields, disrupting their ability to carry out essential agricultural activities," he said.
He also narrated the case of a woman over 60 who, he said, was on her way to her fields when she was caught in a lathi charge, though she had no involvement in the protests. He alleged that as she tried to escape, security personnel struck her with a stone and strangled her with her scarf, leaving her with two fractured ribs. He said her phone was smashed and its battery removed when she sought help, and that she was taken into judicial custody and detained overnight despite her injuries. The fractures were later confirmed by X-ray, he said.
Siram added that in villages across Upper Siang district, particularly the Geku area, one individual has been booked in more than 19 FIRs, while cases have been filed against many others. He expressed concern over a growing narrative being built against people from the region.
Bhanu Tatak, a lawyer and researcher who is also SIFF's legal advisor, has repeatedly been subjected to media trials, the speakers said, as part of a wider attempt to vilify citizens questioning the project. They said a CBI case against Tatak under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act was misrepresented in the media. According to the speakers, the actual allegations in the FIR concern non-compliance with registration and income tax return requirements, yet the media portrayed all protests as foreign-funded, undermining the people's sentiments.
The speakers also cited a report by Bengia Ajum in The Arunachal Times, which reportedly states that NHPC, the project proponent, has spent Rs 10.9 crore on a media campaign involving national media outlets and digital influencers.
Tongam Rina, deputy editor of The Arunachal Times, could not attend but sent a statement. "The government need not force the people to choose violence, but that is exactly what it wants in order to fully utilise its violent force to gain entry into their villages and the river," she wrote. "Siang has demonstrated that the state's forceful militarisation will be met with resistance. Siang isn't just a river; it is the identity of the entire indigenous Adi community."
Residents fear displacement of communities, submergence of ancestral lands, ecological changes and long-term consequences for future generations. For them, speakers said, the question is not simply one of infrastructure but of who gets to decide the future of their river and homeland.
The press conference ended with a call for the immediate release of all those arrested, the withdrawal of FIRs against members of the movement, and the demilitarisation of the region. Speakers also urged the government to begin genuine dialogue with affected communities and to include their concerns and rights in decisions about their land, rivers and future.
Youth for Himalaya also appealed for solidarity across the Himalayan region, saying the Siang situation reflects wider challenges of displacement, ecological security, community rights and democratic participation linked to large hydropower and infrastructure projects. It pointed to the floods in Nepal and the glacial lake outburst flood in Sikkim's Teesta basin as lessons on the risks of poorly planned development in fragile mountain ecosystems, and called for greater scrutiny of such projects, especially their cumulative impacts.
Comments