"Compensation can’t replace lost homeland": Arunachal Activist voices opposition to mega dam projects

Anti-dam activist and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Lobsang Gyatso, popularly known as the “Anna of Arunachal,” has strongly opposed the Arunachal Pradesh government’s growing push for mega hydroelectric projects across the state, warning of devastating ecological and social consequences.

 

Expressing deep concern over the government’s enthusiasm for bringing hydro projects to nearly every river and stream in the state, Gyatso stressed that Arunachal Pradesh, located entirely in the Seismic Zone V, is geologically unsuitable for large dam constructions.

 

“Our fertile lands, particularly in the Siang belt, will be completely submerged. These projects will adversely affect all downstream areas, eroding the ecosystem and destroying livelihoods,” Gyatso said.

 

He further criticized the government’s approach of offering compensation to affected communities, calling it “a lollipop for five minutes” that cannot replace the ancestral lands, customs, and culture being sacrificed for short-term monetary gains.

 

Rubbishing the justification that such projects are essential to counter China’s massive 60,000 MW Yarlung Tsangpo project, Gyatso remarked that India’s 11,000 MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project is “a mockery in comparison” and “a poor excuse to fool people under the guise of national security.”

Recalling the 2016 anti-dam protests in the Mon-Tawang region, Gyatso said he was imprisoned for his participation, and two protesters were killed in police firing during the demonstrations against 13 proposed hydro projects. The movement, he said, succeeded in scrapping all those projects from the Mon region.

Gyatso urged citizens to remain vigilant about the catastrophic effects such projects could unleash on the fragile Himalayan ecosystem, cautioning that unchecked dam construction could turn indigenous people into “refugees in their own land.”