In a remote corner of northeastern India, a town that depends on its rivers and forests has been asked to surrender both to an enormous hydroelectric scheme. Students in Daporijo shut the town down for a day, and their protest, like the earlier unrest in Pasighat, reflects a much older human tension between the power of distant development and the claims of land that families have held for generations. Authorities have answered with a growing force of paramilitary police, and the outcome now depends on whether the strength of the state can quiet a grievance rooted in fear of losing home, herit
Fresh Violence Erupts in Arunachal Pradesh Over Menga Dam as India's Top Court Weighs Election Chief Petitions
A police constable was injured and protesters face possible displacement fears, with dozens of demonstrators arrested after the earlier Pasighat clashes.
Two dams, two towns, and one demand: withdraw the projects for good.
Mark
Two dam projects, two towns, one week. What actually happened in Daporijo?
Mimi
Student groups held a 12-hour strike against the Menga Dam. During it, a police vehicle was damaged, a constable was injured, and a rented office of the hydropower company was allegedly set on fire.
Mark
And Pasighat, days earlier, was a different project?
Mimi
Yes, the much larger 11,000-megawatt Siang Upper Multipurpose Project. Tear gas, burned buildings and vehicles, dozens arrested.
Luke
Careful with the Daporijo details. The injury and the office fire come from the Arunachal Times, and the fire is described as alleged. That's one regional paper's account.
Mimi
Fair. The same goes for the Pasighat claim about lawmakers' houses, which was reported as mobs "reportedly" vandalizing them.
Mark
What are people afraid of?
Mimi
Displacement, loss of ancestral land, ecological damage and seismic risk. In Taliha, residents oppose the project and the land assessment, and blocked a bridge, though peacefully by that paper's account.
Luke
And the security numbers don't agree. NDTV says about 34 companies, the Arunachal Times says about 30. Neither tells us how many protesters there are, and we don't know that.
Mark
So what's unknown?
Luke
Whether the deployment calms things, and whether the government will respond to the demand for withdrawal. Nothing in the reporting says.
O Pulso
- A 12-hour student strike in Daporijo brought the town to a halt, demanding the permanent withdrawal of the 1,605 MW Menga Dam.
- Violence erupted as a police vehicle was damaged, a constable was injured, and a power company office was reportedly set ablaze.
- Fear of mass displacement, lost ancestral land, ecological harm and seismic danger fuels a rising wave of opposition across the Siang Valley.
- After deadly-scale clashes in Pasighat over the far larger SUMP project, dozens of demonstrators have been arrested.
- Some thirty to thirty-four paramilitary companies have been deployed, and the settled-or-escalating question now hangs over the valley.
In a remote corner of northeastern India, a town that depends on its rivers and forests has been asked to surrender both to an enormous hydroelectric scheme. Students in Daporijo shut the town down for a day, and their protest, like the earlier unrest in Pasighat, reflects a much older human tension between the power of distant development and the claims of land that families have held for generations. Authorities have answered with a growing force of paramilitary police, and the outcome now depends on whether the strength of the state can quiet a grievance rooted in fear of losing home, heritage, and the ground beneath it.
In Daporijo, a town in Arunachal Pradesh in India's northeast, daily life stopped on Monday. Student organizations had called a 12-hour general strike against the proposed 1,605-megawatt Upper Subansiri hydroelectric plant, known as the Menga Dam. Their demand is simple and absolute: the project must be withdrawn for good.
As the day wore on, the strike turned violent. Regional reports describe a damaged police vehicle, an injured constable, and an office rented by a national power company that was vandalized and set on fire. Local police responded with a flag march and a call for calm.
The unease predates this strike. Residents fear displacement, the loss of ancestral land, damage to the ecology and the risk of earthquakes. In Taliha village, people have blocked a bridge to resist the Menga Dam and the land survey now underway, though that protest has been described as largely peaceful.
Daporijo is not alone. On October 23, Pasighat erupted over the much larger 11,000-megawatt SUMP project, with tear gas, burning vehicles and buildings, and dozens of arrests. In response, paramilitary forces have been moved into the Siang Valley, with estimates of the deployment ranging from about 30 to 34 companies.
What happens next depends on whether that show of force calms the valley or inflames it further. The protesters have asked for something that leaves little room for compromise, and the coming days will show how both sides choose to step back or push forward.
In Daporijo, a town in India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, normal life stopped on Monday. Student organizations had called a 12-hour general strike against the proposed 1,605-megawatt Upper Subansiri hydroelectric plant, better known as the Menga Dam project. Their demand is that the authorities withdraw the project permanently.
As the strike went on, tensions rose into fresh violence, according to news outlets. The Arunachal Times reported that at least one police vehicle was damaged and a police constable was injured. The paper also reported that supporters of the strike allegedly vandalized an office rented by India's flagship hydroelectric power generation company and set its equipment on fire. The Times of India reported that local police held a flag march and appealed for peace.
The opposition in Arunachal Pradesh has been building for some time. Locals fear mass displacement, the loss of ancestral land, ecological damage and seismic risk. In the village of Taliha, residents voiced strong opposition to the Menga Dam and to the land assessment exercise now under way. The Arunachal Times reported that protesters blocked a bridge to restrict movement there, and described the demonstrations in Taliha as largely peaceful.
Daporijo is not the only flashpoint. On October 23, protests turned violent in Pasighat over a different and larger scheme, the 11,000-megawatt Siang Upper Multipurpose Project, known as SUMP. Police fired tear gas at youths protesting it. Protesters allegedly set fire to buildings and vehicles, and mobs reportedly vandalized the houses of lawmakers and burned local offices. Police arrested dozens of demonstrators.
The authorities have responded with a heavy security presence. NDTV reported that state police called in dozens of Rapid Action Force personnel, a specialized federal police unit, to Pasighat in anticipation of further protests. More Central Reserve Police Force companies were rushed in from Assam to the Siang Valley region, and NDTV put the total deployment of Central Armed Police Force companies at about 34. The Arunachal Times gave a slightly lower figure of about 30 companies, working alongside state and paramilitary forces.
So within days, two separate hydroelectric projects in different parts of the state have produced street confrontations, arrests, an injured constable and burned property. The figures for the deployment differ between outlets, and the reports on the Daporijo violence rely largely on regional press accounts.
What to watch now is whether the large paramilitary presence in the Siang Valley calms matters or whether the strikes and blockades keep spreading. The protesters' demand, permanent withdrawal of the projects, leaves little obvious room for compromise in the near term.
Citações Notáveis
At least one police vehicle was damaged and a police constable injured during the strike.— Arunachal Times, as reported by DW
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