ITANAGAR, 2 Apr: Several anti-dam movement groups and activists from across India raised question over the imposition of the condition on lawyer and activist Ebo Milli and graffiti artist and activist Neelim Mahanta by the court while releasing them on bail.
Milli and Mahanta were arrested on the charge of defacing a mural depicting a mega dam on the boundary wall of the state civil secretariat here with an anti-dam slogan.
Later, they were released on bail with the condition that they will restore the mural back to the way it was within 10 days.
Urging the judges of the Yupia district & sessions court to review the bail condition, the anti-dam groups in a joint statement said that “if dams are a part of our reality as Arunachal Pradesh celebrates its 50th anniversary of statehood, the opposition to the dams is also part of the reality.”
“If murals of a dam can be painted over the walls of our cities, juxtaposed right next to our rich eco-cultural heritage, then appealing to protect and nurture our rich bio-cultural heritage, origins and history with art should also be part of the cityscape.
“We are shocked to learn that artists who, without hurting anyone’s sentiments, have brought this message to the common people are being asked to remove this important message,” the statement read.
It said that the state government went on to sign MoUs with various power developers, despite stiff opposition from various communities, since 2007-08. In some areas, the government even had to withdraw projects due to the concerns raised by the communities, the statement read.
It said that the state government signed MoUs with various power developers and the central government for development of 135 big dams since 2007, out of which 66 projects were cancelled.
Stating that 17 dams are planned in the Dibang basin alone – two of which would be South Asia’s largest – the groups said that around 5,000 hectares of land would be submerged, more than 700 families would lose their homes, and 100 families would be displaced in Dibang Valley alone.
“To coerce the public opinion in favour of these projects, both Arunachal and the central government agencies terrorised the communities, especially the Idu Mishmi people who opposed the series of dams planned on the Dibang river,” the statement read.
It said that these hydropower projects have been planned disproportionately in all the eight river basins in the state to generate a total of 57,000 mw – “a speculative figure that has been used to showcase the state as some kind of powerhouse.”
The statement read that several past and ongoing scientific studies have provided unambiguous evidence that dams cause catastrophic collapse of the ecosystems. “Such ecosystem collapse has led to immense damage to the socioeconomic, cultural, health and wellbeing of communities living in the vicinity as well as far upstream and downstream of dams,” it said.
“Almost all river basins in the world with dams have had complete loss of fish populations, leading to catastrophic ecosystem collapse that affects not only the native plants and animals but the people dependent on fisheries and other ecosystem services. The removal of mountains and their ecosystems, the blocking and diversion of rivers, the building of concrete infrastructures to support dam building activities at such large scales and the submergence of sediments and vegetation are actions which directly emit greenhouse gases aggravating the climate crises.
“We are already witnessing the rapid loss of glaciers due to the human-induced emissions from various industrial activities, and catastrophic floods due to climate change attributed to extreme rainfall in Lower Dibang Valley, Lohit, East Siang, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Dhemaji and Lakhimpur districts. Science and engineering studies clearly provide evidence that dams do not and cannot be designed to control floods. In fact, dams aggravate floods and are an obsolete technology of the 19th and 20th century.
“Communities in Assam, Arunachal and Bangladesh fear that their fate will be the same as that of the people in Uttarakhand and Kerala, where hydroelectric projects wreaked havoc in 2013 (Kedarnath), 2018 and 2019 (Kerala) and 2021 (Tapovan) disasters,” it read.
The anti-dam groups said that, since India’s independence in 1947, construction of 4,300 dams has cumulatively displaced more than 4.4 million people. “A study by the World Bank indicated that, on an average, each dam displaces 13,000 people in India. These are very serious concerns which should have been a part of the public consultation while proposing these dams,” they said.
The groups demanded that a cumulative environment impact assessment of the dams across Arunachal – especially in Dibang Valley, including the downstream communities of Assam – be commissioned afresh with equal emphasis on downstream impacts on lives, river-based livelihoods, etc.
They further sought discussions on “the socio-cultural disintegration due to dam construction and displacement; the natural hazard risk assessment posed by dams; impact of climate change which could adversely threaten the communities already impacted by dams; the ability of dams to deliver as envisioned, given projected changes in flow regimes; an investigation into the procedural flaws in awarding contracts; holding public consultations as prescribed by law; and threatening dissenting locals, study on impacts of the dams on the health of community and diversions on rivers, implement a dam decommissioning policy for the entire country for old dams which are blocking rivers and making people more vulnerable to disasters.”
The anti-dam movement groups include the Narmada Bachao Andolan, Fridays for Future India and its Arunachal and Guwahati chapters, Dibang Resistance (Arunachal Pradesh), Save Aarey movement (Mumbai), Endangered Himalaya (Himachal Pradesh), the Affected Citizens of Teesta, the Centre for Research and Advocacy (Manipur), the Protection of Natural Resources in Manipur, South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People, FFF (Meghalaya), and Manthan Adyayan Kendra, Maharashtra.
