Overview
- NHPC has stationed drilling equipment near Beging, Ugeng and Dite Dime to finalize a pre-feasibility report, yet essential investigations are delayed by local objections.
- A coalition of 114 scientists and researchers called on June 9 to halt all construction, surveys and pre-clearance work, citing risks to biodiversity and Adi tribal heritage.
- The dam is proposed as an 11,000 MW hydropower station intended as a strategic countermeasure to China’s 60 GW Yarlung Tsangpo project upstream of the Arunachal Pradesh border.
- Experts highlight that the site falls within Seismic Zone V, raising concerns over earthquake-triggered landslides, reservoir-induced seismicity and potential structural failure.
- Opponents warn that reservoir formation would submerge terraced wet rice fields, disrupt irrigation, displace Adi communities and breach domestic forest and biodiversity protection laws.