The Siang dam and a threatened homeland

A few kilometres from the entrance to Arunachal Pradesh’s Parong village, an unpaved road winds all the way down to the Siang river. At dusk, all that is visible at the beginning of the dirt road is the glint of freshly painted yellow barricades of the State police and the shine from the silver of the concertina wires that connect the barricades.

The Central security forces who guard the check post here have two purposes — to respond to “unrest” and to stop anyone without “clearance” from proceeding to Siang’s waters. Parong, in Siang district, is one of the three proposed sites identified by the State government for a Pre-Feasibility Report (PFR) to begin work on the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP), developed by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC).