India deploys extra forces after protests over dam on Chinese border escalate
GUWAHATI: India has deployed hundreds of additional security personnel in its remote northeast, authorities said on Tuesday, after youth protesters clashed with police last week over a plan to build a mega-dam to counter a Chinese hydropower project upstream. Protests in Arunachal Pradesh’s Siang Valley, which borders Tibet, turned violent last week, triggering clashes with police, who made at…
GUWAHATI: Indian authorities have announced the deployment of additional security forces in the remote northeast region following violent protests over a proposed mega-dam project that would counter a Chinese hydropower initiative upstream. The unrest in Arunachal Pradesh's Siang Valley, situated on the border with Tibet, erupted last week, leading to clashes with police and the arrests of at least 21 individuals.
Tear gas was fired by the police, while protesters hurled stones and set ablaze a police station and an office belonging to the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation. Police spokesperson SD Singh Jamwal assured Reuters that forces would be augmented as needed to maintain order.
Sporadic protests have persisted in the Siang Valley over the past two years, the site of the planned 11,200-megawatt Siang Upper Multipurpose Project, to be constructed by the state-run National Hydroelectric Power Corporation. The dam's construction has raised concerns among villagers who fear it would inundate ancestral Adi tribe villages.
Gegong Jijong of the Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Forum expressed their determination, stating that they will continue opposing the dam until it is canceled. The inundation would submerge 27 ancestral villages completely, and an additional 40 to 50 villages would be affected.
The Siang River flows from Tibet (known as Yarlung Zangbo in China) into Arunachal Pradesh. China announced its intention to build the world's largest hydropower dam upstream in December 2024, prompting apprehension in New Delhi that China might leverage control over the river for strategic purposes. China asserts Arunachal Pradesh, also referred to as Zangnan, as part of southern Tibet, while India maintains its territorial integrity.
Arunachal Pradesh's Chief Minister, a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, has described the Chinese project as an existential threat and pledged to safeguard national interests while respecting the rights and aspirations of Siang Valley's inhabitants.
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