Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 12 Aug: Anti-dam activist and advocate Ebo Mili, along with one Mejo Mihu were detained by the capital police for staging a peaceful protest outside the banquet hall in Itanagar on Saturday.
Mili and Mihu were staging a protest against the signing of memorandums of agreement (MoA) between the state government and hydropower PSUs for 12 stalled hydropower projects in Arunachal.
However, the capital police denied that the duo had been detained.
“Police team patrolling the Niti Vihar area chanced upon advocate Ebo Mili, who had come to voice his opinions on the dam subject. He and his colleague Mejo Mihu were then enquired regarding the action. They will shortly be handed over to their well-wishers,” Capital SP Rohit Rajbir Singh said.
It is learnt that, after hours-long interrogation, Mili and Mihu were reportedly forced by the police to sign a bond and they were later taken to the ICR deputy commissioner’s office.
Well-wishers of the duo accused the authorities of harassing them unnecessarily by curtailing their democratic right to stage a peaceful protest.
“They made them stand for hours at the police station and unnecessarily harassed them,” said Mili’s colleague.
The MoA signing ceremony was attended by union Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister RK Singh, Chief Minister Pema Khandu, Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein, and officials of the central and state governments.
The 12 stalled hydropower projects have a cumulative installed capacity of about 11,523 MW.
Advocate Mili had earlier been arrested by the Itanagar police in March 2022, along with artist Nilim Mahanta.
They had been accused of defacing a portion of the mural on the civil secretariat’s wall in Itanagar by drawing a resistance logo on it and writing ‘No More Dams’ with black paint.
