Overview
- A 12-hour dawn-to-dusk shutdown called by the People’s Rights Action Committee on Nov 4 passed peacefully with shops closed and many government offices remaining open.
- Police strengthened security across the Itanagar Capital Region, deployed extra personnel at the Civil Secretariat and Lok Bhavan, and dispersed an attempted march of about 30 people from Bage Tinali.
- PRAC’s main demands are the immediate release of people detained after the Oct 23 clashes, withdrawal of security forces from project areas, revocation of suspension orders against gaonburas, and suspension of SUMP survey work.
- PRAC called off the bandh after the Chief Minister’s Office issued a letter inviting the Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Forum for talks and officials said the release of detained activists was being pursued; SIFF planned internal deliberations on Nov 5 and protest leaders warned they could expand action if talks fail.
- The shutdown is part of a wider, ongoing opposition to the proposed 11,200 MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project that locals say threatens displacement, ancestral land and the river environment and that could produce broader disruption if negotiations do not yield concrete safeguards.