Anti-dam protests in Arunachal Pradesh spread from the Siang region to Upper Subansiri district on Monday, with sporadic violence reported during a 12-hour bandh in Daporijo, the district headquarters town that shares a border with China. At least one two-wheeler was set on fire, a constable was reportedly injured in an attack on a police vehicle, another police vehicle was damaged, and an office linked to the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation was vandalised.
Bandh supporters erected barricades and burnt tyres to stop vehicles from moving, severely disrupting normal life in the town.
The bandh was called by student bodies led by the All Tagin Students' Union and other local organisations to oppose the proposed 1,605-megawatt Subansiri Upper Hydroelectric Project, locally known as the Menga Dam. Residents, led by student organisations, are demanding the withdrawal of the project, which is backed by NHPC, over concerns about its environmental impact, the loss of livelihoods and the rights and interests of indigenous communities.
Following the violence, a proposed public hearing for the project was cancelled, a development that underlined how the unrest is now directly affecting the project's administrative process.
The trouble in Upper Subansiri came only days after much more serious violence in the Siang region, where protests against a far larger project turned violent late on Friday night and continued into the early hours of Saturday. In Pasighat, the headquarters of East Siang district, mobs set fire to an NHPC office and to vehicles parked on the premises of a police station, and vandalised the houses of three politicians, including two MLAs.
The houses targeted belonged to MLAs Ninong Ering and Oni Panyang and to state BJP president Kaling Moyong, according to the chief minister. Clashes between protesters and security personnel were also reported, leaving several people injured.
The Siang protests are directed against the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project, a proposed 11,200-megawatt project being undertaken by NHPC. The Centre envisages the project as a strategic counter to a 60,000-megawatt Chinese hydropower project on the Yarlung Tsangpo river, and argues that it would help regulate floods and safeguard India's water security. Opponents, however, see it very differently.
Indigenous organisations, including the Adi Bane Kebang United and the Siang Indigenous Farmers' Forum, oppose the project over fears of losing ancestral lands, the displacement of villages and ecological damage in a seismically active and biodiverse part of the Himalayas.
The latest violence in the Siang region began during a bandh when security personnel fired tear gas shells at supporters in Geku who were demanding the withdrawal of forces and the scrapping of the project. Four women were injured in that action, according to reports. By late evening, groups of young protesters had taken to the streets in Pasighat, where incidents of arson and vandalism were reported.
A senior police officer said demonstrators resorted to stone-pelting and arson, targeting government and police establishments in the town. The district administration responded with a heavy security deployment and restrictions on public gatherings under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita in Pasighat, Mebo and Ruksin.
District Magistrate Jayanti Pertin said on Sunday that the law and order situation in East Siang was under control, but added that it was too early to assess the full extent of the damage. Chief Minister Pema Khandu addressed the media on Saturday, saying the bandh had remained largely peaceful in Siang and Upper Siang districts and in Pasighat during the day, but that incidents were reported in Pasighat after the bandh period ended.
He described those incidents as regrettable, called on all sections of society to maintain peace, and said public consensus would remain central to taking the project forward. On Sunday, he posted on social media that misinformation and misconceptions surrounding the Siang project were creating apprehensions among people, and that bridging the information gap through facts, transparency and open dialogue was essential.
The unrest has also cast a harsh light on NHPC's efforts to build local support for the Siang project. The hydropower company awarded Mumbai-based Concept Public Relations a one-year contract worth Rs 8.73 crore in July 2025, with services beginning the following month. The engagement was later extended by three months, until November 6, 2026, at unchanged rates, taking its total value to approximately Rs 10.91 crore.
Despite what the company described as pro-people corporate social responsibility activities and the public relations campaign, opposition has shown no sign of abating, and reports suggest the agency withdrew most of its staff from the region in recent days due to safety concerns.
The protests have been building for weeks. Demonstrators had demanded a halt to survey work for the project's pre-feasibility report, which involves preliminary technical, geological and hydrological assessments, and the release of activists and village residents detained in connection with the protests. At least 10 people have been arrested since October 9, four of them detained under the Arunachal Pradesh Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2014.
The youth-led mobilisation, which had been gathering strength through rallies and peaceful marches, including one from Daying Ering School Ground to Gandhi Chowk in Pasighat, escalated sharply once the bandh turned violent.
What makes the Arunachal protests particularly significant is the collision they represent between two powerful imperatives. On one side is the government's strategic and energy logic: a massive project on a river that flows from China, designed to secure water, generate power and assert India's presence in a sensitive border region.
On the other side is the lived reality of communities who fear that a project of this scale could submerge their land, disrupt their way of life and damage an ecosystem they depend on. That tension is not new to large dams in the Himalayas, but the scale of the Siang project and the spread of protests to a second river valley suggest the challenge facing the government is growing, not shrinking.
The immediate question is whether dialogue can reopen. The chief minister has said the state government is open to discussions with all organisations and stakeholders, and has urged people to question the government, discuss the benefits and negative aspects of the project and seek clarification on their concerns. Protesters, meanwhile, have so far demanded withdrawal rather than modification, a gap that will be difficult to bridge.
With a public hearing cancelled, security forces on flag march in Daporijo and restrictions still in place in parts of East Siang, the coming days will show whether talks can begin or whether the unrest spreads further to other valleys in the state.
(Reporting based on The Times of India, The New Indian Express, The Indian Express and Down To Earth.)