Siang dam will be built 'come what may', says BJP MP Tapir Gao

Arunachal East Lok Sabha MP Tapir Gao has said the proposed Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP) will be built "come what may", hardening the BJP's stand even as protests against the 11,200 MW dam continue in the Siang belt and spread into Assam.

Speaking at a meeting in Tezu, Lohit district, on Monday, Gao said the Centre, working with the state government, was waiting for a feasibility report before taking a final call on the project, The Times of India reported. But he made clear he expected it to go ahead.

"Even if it does not happen during our generation, even if we grow old and die, the Government of India will eventually have to build at least one dam on the Brahmaputra and the Siang," he said, repeating a line he said he had first used in a speech at Riga.

Strategic argument and China

Gao linked the project to China's hydropower building upstream on the same river, saying developments across the border could have serious consequences for Assam and Bangladesh. He said students were "wasting their time and energy" on protests instead of understanding these strategic concerns.

He also pointed out that the Siang project was declared a national project in 2008, when Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister, arguing that it was not an idea of the present state government or Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Pasighat violence and arrests

Referring to the violence in Pasighat, East Siang, on October 23, the MP said 92 people had been arrested and more than 100 others allegedly involved were still to be picked up. He said the bandh that day was peaceful during the day, but a group of youths went on a rampage after 7 pm, attacking an MLA's residence and other leaders' homes. He said he himself had been unable to reach his house at Ruksin.

Gao warned that many young people who took part "in the name of Gen Z" could find their job prospects hurt until the police cases against them were settled. He alleged that the agitation was being led by people with electoral ambitions. These are his claims; protest groups have maintained that their opposition is about land, livelihoods and the river.

Protest march reaches Assam

The remarks came as an Adi Galo Welfare Society (AGWS) foot march against the dam reached Dhemaji in Assam on Monday, The Arunachal Times reported. The marchers, who set out from Geku in Upper Siang on November 4, are walking along NH-515 towards Itanagar. Organisations including the Asom Jatiya Parishad and the Asom Jatiyabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad joined them in Jonai, and former chief minister Gegong Apang was among those who received them at Ruksin.

AGWS president Geyi Bagra said the march aims to make people in both Arunachal and Assam aware of what a mega dam on the Siang could mean for communities along the river.