Siang Upper Multipurpose Project: Protests, Pre-Feasibility Report and the Dam Safety Question
The Arunachal Pradesh government said the proposed Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP) will not be imposed on local people. It said it is only seeking cooperation to complete the Pre-Feasibility Report (PFR), an early study that checks whether a project is technically and economically possible.
The state government said a decision on building the dam will be taken only after the PFR, and that residents will be consulted as the law requires before the project moves forward.
The project is an 11,200 MW storage dam planned on the Siang river (the Brahmaputra's name when it enters India) and is being taken forward by the Centre through NHPC. It is seen as India's strategic answer to China's mega dam planned upstream in Tibet.
Sections of the indigenous Adi community oppose it. They fear submergence of villages, displacement, loss of ancestral land and livelihoods, and environmental damage. The site lies in a seismically active (earthquake-prone) zone, which has raised dam-safety questions.
Protests turned violent in late September and again on 23 October 2026; an NHPC office and a police station in Pasighat were set on fire. A solidarity rally in Itanagar on 29 October demanded release of detained protesters.
The Arunachal Indigenous Tribes Forum has proposed a peace committee to help dialogue between the government and groups opposing the project.
Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP): India's Storage Dam on the Siang
The Siang Upper Multipurpose Project is a very large storage dam proposed on the Siang river in the Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh. "Multipurpose" means it is meant to do several jobs at once: produce electricity, store water, control floods and protect India's water security against upstream dams in China. It would be India's biggest hydropower project if built.
The state's assurance that the dam "won't move forward without public" consultation is about this project's earliest stage, the PFR. The protests show the clash between India's strategic aim of a buffer storage against China's dam and local fears of losing land, villages and a way of life.
Adi Tribe of Arunachal Pradesh
The Adi are one of the largest tribal communities of Arunachal Pradesh. They live mainly in the valleys of the Siang river and its tributaries, in districts like East Siang, Upper Siang and Siang. Their identity, farming and faith are closely tied to the river and their ancestral land.
The government's outreach is aimed at the Adi bodies, because the land the reservoir would flood is their ancestral land. Any final decision will depend on whether these communities are genuinely consulted and their consent and concerns are addressed.
Dam Safety Act, 2021
The Dam Safety Act, 2021 is India's first national law on the safety of dams. It makes every owner of a big dam (a government department, a state, or a company) responsible for checking, maintaining and running the dam safely. It also creates four bodies, two at the national level and two in each state, to watch over dam safety. The aim is simple: prevent dam failures and the floods and deaths they can cause.
SUMP would be one of the largest dams in India, built by a central company in an earthquake-prone zone. Under the Dam Safety Act, 2021, the NDSA itself would act as its state safety body, and NHPC would have to provide seismic monitoring, an Emergency Action Plan and independent safety reviews. The Adi community's fears about safety in a seismic area are exactly the kind of risk this law is meant to manage.
- SUMP capacity: 11,200 MW (also reported as about 11,000 MW); live storage about 9.2 billion cubic metres
- Developer: NHPC; current stage: Pre-Feasibility Report
- Location: Siang valley, Arunachal Pradesh (spread over three districts)
- China's Yarlung Tsangpo project near Medog: about 60,000 MW; construction began 19 July 2025
- Protests turned violent in late September and on 23 October 2026; NHPC office and a police station burnt in Pasighat
- Peace committee proposed by the Arunachal Indigenous Tribes Forum
- Dam Safety Act, 2021 in force from 30 December 2021; NDSA set up February 2022