The Arunachal Pradesh Congress on Tuesday questioned Union Minister Kiren Rijiju over his silence on issues concerning the state, particularly the proposed Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP).
The party said Rijiju should clarify his position on the hydropower project on the Siang river, which it claimed had caused anxiety among indigenous communities in the valley. It claimed that more than 27 villages and over 1.5 lakh members of the Adi community faced uncertainty over displacement, submergence of ancestral land, loss of cultural identity and environmental consequences.
The Congress questioned why the pre-feasibility report process was being pursued despite public opposition and unresolved issues of consent, rehabilitation, compensation and livelihood security. It said national security concerns arising from China's upstream infrastructure development on the Yarlung Tsangpo river should not be used to bypass public consultation and indigenous rights.
The party also sought Rijiju's response to China's repeated claims over Arunachal Pradesh, the renaming of places and border-related concerns in the Taksing-Maza and Longju sectors. It demanded an independent investigation into alleged irregularities in land compensation for the Arunachal Frontier Highway along the Lada-Chayangtajo stretch.
“Advice for the Opposition can wait. Answers for the people of Siang cannot,” state Congress spokesperson Kon Jirjo Jotham said, referring to Rijiju's November 4 social media post targeting Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress also criticised Arunachal East BJP MP Tapir Gao for supporting the project. It questioned his statement that the dam would be built and said an elected representative from the Adi community should address the concerns of affected villagers.
“Is NHPC more important than the Adi people?” the party asked.
Gao had reiterated his support for the proposed 11,200-MW project while addressing a meeting in Tezu in Lohit district a day earlier. He said the dam would be built “come what may”, citing India's strategic interests and China's hydropower development upstream. He said the project, declared a national project in 2008 during former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's tenure, was important for Arunachal Pradesh's development.
Gao accused anti-dam protesters of pursuing political ambitions and referred to the October 23 violence in Pasighat, saying 92 people had been arrested and more than 100 others were yet to be arrested.
