Our correspondent
Itanagar: Anti-dam activist Katon Moyong, popularly known as 'Abor Man', has ruled out any further negotiations with the Arunachal Pradesh government over the proposed 11,200-MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP), asserting that the Adi community would continue its opposition to the mega hydropower project.
The engineer-turned-activist, who was recently detained by Delhi Police for staging a protest against the project in the national capital, accused the government of using national security concerns as a justification to push ahead with the dam despite widespread opposition.
Moyong maintained that the Adi community remained firm in its opposition to the proposed project and alleged that the government's renewed efforts to implement it were driven by political considerations ahead of the 2029 Assembly elections.
He also urged indigenous communities across the state to stand together against the project and remain vigilant against alleged efforts to create divisions among various tribes on the contentious issue.
"The time for discussion on the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP) has passed," Moyong told reporters at the Arunachal Press Club here.
"Let there be dams on smaller rivers, but not on the Siang. Either the entire Adi community will have to be exterminated to build the Siang dam, or there will be no Siang dam," he asserted.
Tracing the history of opposition to the project, Moyong claimed that a proposal to construct a dam on the Siang River was first floated in 1979 in the name of Brahmaputra flood control, but was turned down by the Adi community.
He also held the government of former chief minister Dorjee Khandu responsible for signing 145 memoranda of understanding with power developers and private firms, alleging that the agreements had saddled the state with a massive debt burden.
According to Moyong, successive governments had repeatedly altered the rationale behind the project, initially projecting it as a flood-control measure, later describing it as a national interest initiative and a national project, before the present dispensation began citing national security concerns to justify its implementation.
The Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP), among the largest hydropower ventures proposed in the northeastern state, involves constructing a massive dam on the Siang River in Arunachal Pradesh.
The project is proposed to be implemented by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC).
The project has drawn strong opposition from the Adi community, particularly in the Siang belt, amid fears of displacement, loss of ancestral land and forests, and possible damage to the region's rich cultural traditions and fragile ecology.
The Arunachal Pradesh government, however, has maintained that the project is primarily intended to regulate and store water in the Siang basin, especially against the backdrop of China's plans to construct a massive dam on the river upstream.
Opponents of the project have been seeking an immediate suspension of the ongoing Pre-Feasibility Report (PFR) activities and survey operations along the Siang River. They have also demanded the removal of security personnel stationed in areas expected to be affected by the proposed dam.
The state government, meanwhile, has maintained that the proposed 11,000-MW project would accelerate socio-economic development, create employment and self-employment opportunities for local youth, and enhance water and energy security for both Arunachal Pradesh and the country.
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