The SUMP Affected Area Youth Association (SAAYA) has called a shutdown in Siang, Upper Siang and East Siang districts on November 2 to protest the arrest of people opposing the proposed 11,200-MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP).
In a letter to the Bogum Bokang Welfare Society (BBWS), SAAYA said its executive meeting on October 29, attended by representatives of affected villages, had unanimously decided to organise the shutdown with the Siang Indigenous Farmer Forum (SIFF), other community organisations and local residents. It also sought BBWS’s support for the protest.
SAAYA said the agitation was directed against the arrests of people opposing what it described as forced surveys and the deployment of Central Armed Police Forces personnel in project-affected areas. It urged the community body to help ensure that the protest remained peaceful and democratic.
The association said its movement sought to protect ancestral land, the Siang River, Adi identity and traditional livelihoods. Opposition to the proposed project has centred on concerns over displacement, submergence of villages, loss of farmland and forests, and disruption of local ways of life. Reports suggest that 27 villages could face submergence, with several dozen others also affected.
Tensions intensified in September and October over proposed pre-feasibility report surveys. Protesters objected to security personnel being deployed to facilitate the exercise, saying affected communities had not consented to it. Following violence during demonstrations, including attacks on vehicles and public property, the administration made arrests and preventive detentions and increased security deployment. Upper Siang district administration imposed prohibitory restrictions on public gatherings on October 11.
Several organisations have since sought the release of detained activists, withdrawal of security personnel and suspension of survey work. The state government has maintained that the exercise is only a preliminary feasibility assessment and does not amount to a final decision to build the dam.
The Centre informed Parliament in August 2024 that the project was at the preliminary investigation stage and would require environmental clearances before construction. The proposed project on the Siang River is expected to generate 11,200 MW and has also assumed strategic significance amid China’s plans for a major hydropower facility on the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet.
