"No Siang Dam Unless Adi Community Exterminated": Activist Katon Moyong Rejects Arunachal Govt’s Dialogue Bid

Arunachal Pradesh: Tensions in the Siang Valley escalated to a tipping point today after Katon Moyong, a leading environmental engineer and anti-dam activist from the indigenous Adi tribe, flatly rejected the Arunachal Pradesh government’s invitation for fresh talks regarding the proposed 11,200 MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP).

Addressing a packed press conference at the Arunachal Press Club, Moyong declared that the era of negotiations is officially over. He delivered a stark ultimatum to the state and central authorities, warning that the indigenous population will protect their ancestral lands at all costs.

"The time for discussion on the SUMP has passed," Moyong asserted. "Either the entire Adi community will have to be exterminated to build the Siang dam, or there will be no Siang dam."

Moyong, widely known as the 'Abor Man,' emphasized that the indigenous resistance is not anti-development. He clarified that the community remains completely willing to support and construct smaller hydroelectric projects on the Siang River's various tributaries. However, he drew an unyielding line at any large-scale structural intervention on the main stem of the river, which holds deep cultural and agricultural significance for the Adi people.

He further noted that the resistance is a three-generation-old struggle, tracing back to a flood-control proposal first rejected by his grandfather's generation in 1979. Moyong also firmly dismissed the government’s strategic justification for the project—which cites national security to counter China's massive upstream Medog dam in Tibet—labeling it a political tool used to forcibly suppress domestic opposition.

Furthermore, he warned that no organization has the authority to negotiate unless they secure the explicit consent of all 60 affected villages.

The declaration follows weeks of intense unrest, including Moyong’s recent detention by Delhi Police during protests outside Arunachal Bhavan.

While Chief Minister Pema Khandu maintains that the government remains committed to dialogue and will avoid forced displacement, heavy paramilitary deployment and preventive detentions in the valley continue to trigger widespread local anger.

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