India deploys hundreds of security personnel to Siang Valley after protests — Dawn

India has deployed hundreds of additional security personnel to the remote Siang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh state after youth protesters clashed with police over plans to build a major dam. Dawn reports, citing Reuters.

Protests in the Siang Valley, which borders Tibet, turned violent last week. Police detained at least 21 people. According to authorities, law enforcement officers used tear gas, while protesters threw stones and set fire to a police station and an office of the state-owned National Hydroelectric Power Corporation.

Additional security forces

Arunachal Pradesh Police Chief S. D. Singh Jamwal told Reuters that forces are being reinforced where necessary to prevent breaches of law and order.

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Over the past two years, sporadic protests have taken place in the valley against the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project, a planned 11,200-megawatt hydropower project. It is to be implemented by the state-owned National Hydroelectric Power Corporation. The planned dam is intended to be a response to China’s hydropower project upstream on the river.

Residents’ concerns

Residents opposed to the project fear the flooding of ancestral villages of the Adi tribe. Gegong Jijing, a representative of the Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Forum, told Reuters that if the dam is built, 27 ancestral villages will be completely flooded, while another 40 or 50 will be affected.

The Siang River flows into Arunachal Pradesh from Tibet, where it is called the Yarlung Tsangpo. In December 2024, China announced plans to build the world’s largest hydropower dam upstream. This raised concerns in New Delhi that China could weaponize control over the river. China claims Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls Zangnan and part of southern Tibet, while India considers the state an integral part of its territory.