‘Are we militants?’ In Arunachal Pradesh, anger over plan to send armed forces for mega dam survey
Residents have been opposing the Siang project for years now as they believe it poses an existential threat to their lands and way of life.
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“How can they send paramilitary forces here?” asked Taga Tamuk, as he showed me around the government primary school in Riew village in Arunachal Pradesh's Siang district.
The building was abandoned and broken, without even a desk or bench inside. No child was enrolled in the school, and the last few classes were held months ago.
The village had stopped noticing the decrepit structure until they heard that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government of Arunachal Pradesh had issued directions to turn it into a camp for armed central forces.
Why were central forces being despatched to this remote, hard-to-reach village in Arunachal Pradesh? “We are not Chinese, nor Pakistanis, nor militants,” Tamuk said. “Our village has not even seen a law-and-order problem. Then how can they send the army?”
A letter dated December 6, and signed by the deputy commissioner of Siang district, had let out the state government’s plan. The forces were being sent to make sure that a survey for India’s largest hydroelectric power project on the river Siang could be carried out – in the face of fierce resistance from the residents.
The Siang flows into Arunachal Pradesh from Tibet, and is Brahmaputra’s main tributary. The residents of Arunachal Pradesh have been opposing this...
