Mobile internet services were suspended across Upper Siang district on Monday as a 36-hour bandh over the proposed 11,200-MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP) disrupted normal activity across three districts of Arunachal Pradesh.
Called by the Siang Indigenous Farmers Forum (SIFF) and the SUMP Affected Area Youth Association (SAAYA), the shutdown began at 5 am on November 2 and covered Upper Siang, Siang and East Siang districts. Student unions and community organisations also backed the protest.
The groups are demanding the release of activists detained during the agitation and a halt to pre-feasibility report (PFR) surveys in project-affected areas. They have also objected to the deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), alleging that survey work proceeded without the consent of indigenous communities.
SAAYA said its executive committee had taken the bandh decision unanimously at an emergency meeting on October 29, attended by representatives of affected villages. In a letter to the Bogum Bokang Welfare Society, the association urged residents to join what it described as a peaceful and democratic movement.
The opposition centres on fears that the proposed dam on the Siang River could submerge 27 villages and affect several dozen others. Local groups have raised concerns over displacement, loss of farmland and forests, and disruption to traditional livelihoods. The project is planned to generate 11,200 MW of electricity.
Resistance intensified through September and October as survey teams and security personnel entered the region. Protests were followed by incidents of violence, including attacks on vehicles and public property. The administration responded with arrests, preventive detentions and increased security deployment. It also imposed prohibitory restrictions on public gatherings in Upper Siang on October 11.
Community organisations have continued to seek the release of those detained, withdrawal of security forces and suspension of survey activities.
The Centre has cited China’s proposed hydropower project on the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet, which flows into India as the Siang, as part of the strategic context surrounding the project. However, the state government has maintained that the current exercise is only a preliminary feasibility assessment and does not amount to a final decision to build the dam. In August 2024, the Centre informed Parliament that the project remained at the preliminary investigation stage and would require environmental clearances before construction.
