Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 19 Mar: Rejecting the pre-feasibility report (PFR) activities for the proposed Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP) in Upper Siang district, the Siang Indigenous Farmers Forum Youth Wing (SIFFYW) on Wednesday accused the government of using “false and fraud means” to get signatures from villagers.
“What is happening in the Siang valley is very sad to see. The administration officers and our representatives are using false and fraud means to get signatures,” SIFFYW spokesperson Katon Moyong said.
“Calling one or two individuals to sign MoUs and presenting in the media that the whole village has accepted the proposal of PFR is unconstitutional,” he added, hardening the SIFFYWs’ stand, rejecting the PFR activities.
Moyong added that the government is using every means possible to get the villagers to sign MoUs for the SUMP PFR. He further alleged that government representatives have used monetary offers and employment assurances to pressure riverine villages, while also claiming that eight village elders from the Riyu-Riga area were suspended for defending land rights in an attempt to fragment local resistance.
Taking a jibe at Rural Development Minister Ojing Tasing for his recent remarks, claiming that signed memoranda of understanding are irreversible,
Moyong pointed out the constitutional safeguards under Article 371(H). He argued that both the state and the Centre maintain a primary obligation to intervene in matters of public welfare, particularly when the protection of indigenous land, forests, and rivers is at stake.
Addressing mediapersons at the Arunachal Press Club, Moyong, who is an environmental engineer, challenged the legitimacy of the project’s approval process by arguing that the state is projecting “selective consent” from a few individuals as broad community backing. He maintained that “even a single village lacks the authority to alienate community land without wider consensus,”emphasising that land ownership in the region remains deeply governed by customary practices, rather than individual transactions.
Moyong revealed that his efforts to organise a mass petition across 54 villages, stretching from Boleng to Geling, were abruptly halted after 19 villages were covered when an FIR was filed against him with the special investigation team in Itanagar.
He termed the legal action a part of a broader administrative strategy to stifle dissent while the state continues to push forward with the preliminary project activities.
The forum also challenged the authority of centralised bodies such as the Adi Bane Kebang to negotiate on behalf of local residents, asserting that no single institution can override the decision-making autonomy of individual villages or clans.
Instead, Moyong called for strict adherence to ‘Adi Bane’, a traditional customary framework that reflects the collective will of the Adi people across the entire district.
Responding to claims by MLA Alo Libang that “outsiders” were instigating the opposition, Moyong retorted that the forum members are the rightful inhabitants of the land, “whereas agencies like the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation are outsiders and Chief Minister Pema Khandu and Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein too are outsiders as far as Siang valley is concerned.”
He said that development initiated without free, prior, and informed consent violates indigenous rights and customary law.
