The 11,000 MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP) in Arunachal Pradesh, proposed during 2024 is attracting an intense backlash with local communities, particularly the Adi tribe, voicing deep-seated environmental, cultural and livelihood concerns associated with the mega-dam. What is this mega-dam project attracting so much of attention and retaliation? The Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP), is a 11,000 MW hydropower project proposed on the Siang River in Arunachal Pradesh led by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) which involves constructing a 300-meter-high dam over the river. The protests began in July 2024, when the NHPC requested security for pre-feasibility surveys, deploying the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and state police in villages like Beging, Geku and Parong. This faced fierce retaliation from the local communities and organizations like The Siang Indigenous Farmers Forum (SIFF), East Siang Downstream Dam Affected Peoples Forum and broader alliances like the North East Human Rights and Dibang Resistance.
What makes this project so controversial? This mega-dam faces strong resistance because of the associated environmental, cultural and livelihood concerns. The dam could submerge over 300 villages which also include critical wildlife habitats and forest ecosystems causing severe devastation for flora and fauna in the region. It can trap sediments preventing nutrient-rich deposits from reaching downstream agricultural lands alongside increasing the risks of flood due to potential dam bursts or mismanagement of water releases. The local tribes like the Adi tribe practise animism, relying on river for cultural practices and consider it the abode of their central deity. The dam is threat to cultural identity and they fear loss of sacred sites and ancestral connections. These communities depend upon the river for their livelihood including agriculture, fishing and other sustenance activities which will all be endangered with the construction of the dam. The NHPC has promised a ₹325 crore Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) package but activists view this as inadequate to offset the loss of ancestral lands and sustainable livelihoods.
Is such resistance to dams new to the region? No. Arunachal Pradesh has a long history of resistance to hydropower projects, dating back to the 1980s when the Brahmaputra Board first proposed dams on the Siang. Early opposition to Siang dams focused on flood control projects that threatened local ecosystems. The state signed 169 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) for hydropower projects, but 53 were terminated due to breaches by developers, reflecting local resistance and project failures and the list goes on.
However, in this project, the government remains indifferent to the local concerns emphasizing the dam’s strategic importance. In 2023, it circulated a notice directing village heads not to participate in protests and deployed CAPF and state police in 2024. They have offered a ₹325 crore CSR package to gain support. The Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act of 2023 exempts strategic projects within 100 km of India’s borders from forest clearance, facilitating the SUMP’s progress despite environmental concerns. The government has tried its best to suppress the dissent through detention and restrictions.
Why does the government insist on the project? The SUMP is positioned as a countermeasure to China’s 60,000 MW Medog Dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo which could potentially divert water to northern China reducing downstream flow in India. The SUMP’s reservoir will maintain Siang’s flow during dry seasons and mitigate flood risks from sudden Chinese water releases. The Medog Dam could trigger landslides, earthquakes, or flash floods which could be buffered by India’s Sump making it a necessity in India-China ‘dam-for-dam’ race.
The intensifying protests against the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project reflect a deep-rooted struggle to protect the Siang River’s environmental, cultural, and livelihood significance. While the government pushes the project as a strategic marked by security deployments and regulatory exemptions. Balancing national security with indigenous rights and environmental sustainability remains a critical challenge.
Riya Goyal is a trainee journalist at Cult Current. The views expressed in the article are
her ownand do not necessarily reflect the official stance of Cult Current