By Rabindra Nath Sinha
KOLKATA: These are trying times for Pema Khandu, chief minister of Arunachal, a generally peaceful north-eastern state, where the Bharatiya Janata party has a very comfortable majority in the 60 member-legislative Assembly. For the Union government, however, Arunachal is a difficult state, warranting constant vigil because of the China factor. It is like Q and U ; if it is Arunachal, how can there not be the sensitive issue of border and China ? While border remains a live issue for years, the new problem the Khandu ministry is having to cope with relates to construction of dams and hydro-electric projects and significantly the Centre had to be in the picture not only for law and order issues but also because of China’s programme for a massive hydel power venture in the region India cannot afford to overlook.
The projects in Arunachal, over which discontent has been simmering for some time, became the reason for protests and violence in the later part of the third week of this month and taking a stern view, the Union home ministry sent on Saturday, October 24 two companies of RAF of CRPF from Navi Mumbai for deployment from Sunday, October 25 and thereby increase the strength of security personnel already in position [The Rapid Action Force is a specially trained anti-riot unit of the Central Reserve Police Force].
Protests and incidents of violence, in which even politicians were not spared and the NHPC office was vandalised, occurred at Pasighat, HQs of East Siang district on Saturday, October 24 and at Daporijo, HQs of the Upper Subansiri district on Monday, October 26. The proposed ventures being targeted by agitationists, who include farmers’ and students’ outfits and whose action plan included 12-hour shutdowns, are the 11,200 mw Siang Upper Multi-purpose Project (SUMP) in the Siang River Valley and the 1,605 mw Subansiri Upper Hydro-electric Project (SUHP), which is also referred to as the Menga Dam. According to reports, the police bid to detain All Tagin Students’ Union president Tadak Pakba late on Saturday, October 24 night acted as one of the triggers for the escalation of the adverse circumstances. A large rally against SUMP was also held at Arunachal’s capital Itanagar by students’ and social organisations on Thursday, October 29.
In the case of SUMP, the provocation – if it can be described as such – was NHPC’s preparations to launch a pre-feasibility study after it received the Centre’s green signal in September. As the term suggests, it is to be a preliminary exercise and if the findings are positive, a feasibility study is taken up and, thereafter, arises the question of preparing a DPR. Actual work can begin only after social impact assessment and finally environmental clearance. The chief minister has stressed these aspects and attributed the protests and acts of violence to spreading of misinformation. Khandu has also repeatedly said local people’s viewpoints will be heard and their grievances addressed; but to no avail. The incidents of violence and tension led to the cancellation of the scheduled public hearing for SUHP.
Broadly speaking, the objections raised by opponents are on familiar lines : they should have been taken into confidence even before starting preliminary project-related job, reservoir could submerge fertile land and paddy fields, threaten livelihood and dispossess them of their ancestral land. North Block’s decision to rush RAF to fortify the security apparatus has been described as an act of “militarisation” to push the proposed ventures. Arunachal PCC president Bosiram Siram told IPA that in his assessment the situation had been mishandled and deployment of additional forces had been seen by the people as an attempt to foil their protests. During election time, Khandu had assured electors that nothing would be done without consulting stakeholders ; but now the administration is arresting people, registering cases without sufficient reasons and creating an atmosphere of fear, Siram added.
It appears New Delhi is very serious about SUMP, which in India’s context may be seen as a very big venture for hydel power and allied facilities. When it fructifies, it will have spread across three districts in the Siang command area – Upper Siang, , Siang and East Siang [there is also Siang West which is an Assembly segment and Lower Siang]. Here comes the China factor or the proverbial U of Q and U. The Siang, that goes by the name Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet, enters Arunachal near Gelling and flows 290 plus km before joining the Dibang and the Lohit at Sadiya in Assam to form the mighty Brahmaputra. China is building a massive dam to generate 60,000 mw hydel power at Medog, which is at the Yarlung Tsangpo upstream in Tibet. In New Dekhi and Itanagar’s views, SUMP will help in regulating floods and countering the impact of the Chinese dam.
Interestingly, there are neutral, “not for, not against” outfits too. Organisationally, their stance is “not for, not against” ; but they have their own mechanism to gauge the mood and views of the people and convey the same to the authorities.
For example, East Siang Downstream Dam Affected People’s Forum. According its president Oni Tamuk, “we are neither anti, not pro”. But, “we keep ourselves in touch with civil society people, seek their advice and make concrete suggestions in the interest of the public. If the project materialises, we want motorable embankments” as part of the facilities that are created”, Tamuk told IPA. Arunachal’s rural development and panchayati raj minister Ojing Tasing heard the views of Tamuk and forum’s general secretary Jobomchang Mengu on Tuesday, October 27.
President Tanon Tatak of the representative Adi Baane Kebang told IPA that in keeping with the stand of his predecessors, “we are maintaining neutrality as far as the outfit is concerned. Which however, does not mean that we do not keep ourselves abreast of what people are thinking. For example, we held meetings at three places –Yingkeo, Doka and Riga – on February 5 last . People opined that a dam over Siang river was not desirable. They also felt that village chiefs should not be harassed in any manner and pending cases against people, who were proceeded against, should be withdrawn, Tatak told IPA.
As the situation stands now, the priority of the authorities should be to get the public hearing SUHP started and enable NHPC to resume pre-feasibility study by putting in place confidence building measures, informed quarters told IPA. (IPA Service)
