Overview
- Katon Moyong, a prominent Adi activist, publicly rejected the Arunachal government’s offer of talks on Thursday and said negotiations are over while reiterating a categorical refusal to accept a dam on the Siang River.
- State authorities and the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation are continuing pre-feasibility surveys and planning for the 11,200 MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project, which officials argue would store and manage flows in view of large Chinese hydropower work upstream.
- Local resistance has escalated into violence and detentions: October protests in Siang Valley produced clashes, arson at local offices and at least 21 arrests, and around 40 people were detained during demonstrations in Delhi on November 1 with protesters alleging police brutality.
- Opponents and academics warn the proposed storage scheme could inundate scores of ancestral villages, displace large numbers of people (estimates cited up to about 150,000), and pose acute seismic and 'water bomb' hazards because of the basin’s high earthquake risk.
- The dispute rests on decades of contested planning dating to 1979 and policy steps in 2017 and 2023; protesters demand an immediate halt to PFR and survey work and the withdrawal of security forces while the government says the project will deliver jobs, flood moderation and strategic water security.