Arunachal: Anti-dam protesters vandalise NHPC office, police station after tear gas fired

The protests turned violent in two Arunachal Pradesh locations on Friday. In Pasighat, demonstrators vandalised and set fire to an NHPC office and a police station after security personnel fired tear gas. The buildings were not completely burned, but vehicles were torched and stones were thrown at the police station.

Earlier, at Dite-Dime near Geku in Siang district, police used tear gas after protesters allegedly threw stones, approached barricades, and violated a prohibitory order. Officials said at least five women were injured. The protesters were demanding the release of 10 people arrested earlier this month.

The unrest also included alleged damage to the homes of three BJP leaders and the office of Adi Bane Kebang United. Officials and protesters offer different accounts of what triggered the violence. The larger dispute concerns the proposed 12,500-megawatt Siang project and the government’s continuing pre-feasibility work.

The Siang hydropower project is a proposed 12,500-megawatt power project on the Siang river. It would be built by the government-owned National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, or NHPC. The article places the project at an early stage, with the government saying it is drafting a pre-feasibility report.

Several organisations are opposing the project. Their demands include releasing 10 detained activists, reinstating suspended village heads or community leaders, stopping all pre-feasibility activities, and removing paramilitary and central forces from the region. These demands link the project to wider concerns about local authority, policing, and the government’s approach to consultation.

Chief Minister Pema Khandu said some villagers had been misinformed and that only a pre-feasibility report was being prepared. Protesters nevertheless want even those preliminary activities withdrawn. The immediate dispute therefore concerns both the proposed dam and how decisions about it are being made.

A project’s capacity measures the maximum electrical power its generators can produce at one moment under suitable operating conditions. The proposed Siang project is rated at 12,500 megawatts, or 12.5 million kilowatts. That makes it an exceptionally large planned power project.

Capacity is not the same as electricity generated every year. Hydropower output depends on river flow, reservoir levels, maintenance, and operating decisions. For example, generators may reach their rated capacity during periods of strong water flow but produce less during dry periods. The rating also does not directly state how many homes would receive electricity.

The article gives the 12,500-megawatt figure but does not provide an annual generation estimate, construction timeline, or household count. It says only that NHPC would build the project and that officials currently describe the work as preparation of a pre-feasibility report. The scale helps explain why the proposal is politically significant.

The main actors are local protesters and civil society groups, the Arunachal Pradesh government, police and security forces, and NHPC. Protesters include members of Adi Bane Kebang United and other local organisations. They oppose the proposed project’s preparatory work and demand the release of 10 activists, reinstatement of suspended community leaders, and removal of central and paramilitary forces.

Police and officials say security personnel acted after protesters allegedly carried weapons, damaged barricades, violated prohibitory orders, and threw stones. Protesters and one official instead described the tear-gas firing as unprovoked and said it triggered anger. NHPC is the government-owned company identified to build the project.

Chief Minister Pema Khandu has defended the detentions and said law-and-order disruptions will be handled legally. He also invited civil society groups for discussions and said he would visit Siang until the pre-feasibility report is completed. BJP leaders’ homes were also allegedly vandalised.

A pre-feasibility report is an early assessment of whether a proposed project appears technically, economically, and practically possible. It usually comes before more detailed studies and final approvals. The article does not list the report’s contents, so this explanation uses standard project-planning knowledge.

In this case, Chief Minister Pema Khandu said the government was only drafting a pre-feasibility report for the proposed Siang project. Protesters use the broader phrase “pre-feasibility activities” for work connected with that stage. Their demands include withdrawing all such activities, releasing 10 detained activists, and removing security forces deployed in the region.

Stopping early work would prevent the project from advancing through its initial assessment while the dispute continues. Khandu invited civil society groups to discuss the matter and said he would visit Siang until the report was completed. The article does not say whether the report has been finished or whether construction has begun.

When a large dam is built, its reservoir can submerge villages, farmland, forests, and wildlife habitat. Changes in river flow can affect fish movement, sediment transport, wetlands, and downstream water availability. Construction can also fragment habitats and disturb people living along the river. These are established environmental and social effects, not impacts documented specifically in this article.

The article identifies the proposed 12,500-megawatt project on the Siang river but does not describe its planned reservoir, affected villages, farmland, ecosystems, or downstream effects. It reports that local groups want all pre-feasibility activities stopped and that several organisations are protesting the proposal.

Those early studies matter because they can examine possible impacts before construction decisions are made. In the reported dispute, however, protesters want the process withdrawn rather than continued. The government says the project is still at the report-drafting stage, while Khandu has invited civil society groups to discuss the issue.

A hydropower dam controls river water and directs it through turbines. Moving water spins the turbine, and the turbine turns a generator that produces electricity. The amount of power depends on factors such as water flow and the height difference through which water falls. This is standard hydropower knowledge; the article does not explain the Siang project’s engineering design.

Governments commonly build hydropower projects to generate electricity on a large scale. Dams can also regulate water in some settings, but the article does not claim that purpose for the proposed Siang project. It identifies only a planned 12,500-megawatt power project on the Siang river, to be built by NHPC.

The project remains at the pre-feasibility stage described by Chief Minister Pema Khandu. Local organisations are demanding that related activities stop, while the government has invited them to discussions. The article does not provide a construction date, final design, or operating plan.