[ Bengia Ajum ]
ITANAGAR, 28 Jul: The Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Forum (SIFF), along with the residents of the Siang river basin and other stakeholders, has announced to boycott the incumbent body of the Adi Bane Kebang (ABK) – the apex body of the Adi community – accusing it of being indifferent towards their sentiments in regard to the Siang mega dam issue.
They alleged that, despite their bitter opposition, the ABK, without consulting them, adopted a resolution stating that the ABK “has no objections to the survey being conducted for the pre-feasibility report (PFR) for construction of Siang dam.”
The ABK adopted this resolution in a meeting held on 12 June.
A coordination meeting was recently held in Yingkiong (Upper Siang) at the request of the ABK, wherein members of the SIFF, along with residents of the Siang river basin and other stakeholders, discussed the issues arising out of the ABK’s contentious resolution.
Both sides disagreed with each other over the resolution during the course of the discussion.
“We requested the ABK to withdraw its resolution to allow conducting of the PFR survey. However, it did not agree, saying that the ABK cannot speak against developmental activities. A minute of the meeting was prepared, in which we clearly stated that the resolution should be withdrawn. But the ABK members walked away and did not even sign the minutes of the meeting,” said SIFF adviser Tasik Lobom.
He further alleged that the Upper Siang administration is threatening the local government employees against speaking against the construction of the dam.
“Many of the local Adi officials are also not comfortable with the construction of the mega dam. But the Upper Siang administration has threatened them with direct action if they speak against construction of mega dams and other so-called developmental projects,” he added.
The SIFF, along with the other affected stakeholders, made it clear that they will continue to strongly oppose the construction of the Siang mega dam.
“Altogether 309 members from 26 villages of the Siang river basin were present at the Yingkiong meeting. Everyone present unanimously reiterated our strong objection to the PFR survey and construction of a mega dam over the Siang. The government should listen to our voice,” said Lobom.
The SIFF informed that it had filed a PIL at the Itanagar permanent bench of the Gauhati High Court in 2014, and the case was disposed of in 2022 in favour of the petitioners, with an instruction to the state government that “in the coming future, the consent and consultation must be sought from the affected locals for any such dam project.”
However, it alleged that the authorities are not following the high court order.
In January this year, the NHPC announced that it has submitted a PFR to the Central Electricity Authority of India for the ‘Upper Siang Multipurpose Storage’. The 11,000 MW Upper Siang Multipurpose Storage will be the largest hydropower project of India.
