Centre rushes 250 RAF personnel to Arunachal after protests over hydropower project

NEW DELHI: The Centre has sent two companies of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to Arunachal Pradesh following violence in Pasighat during protests against the proposed 11,200-MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project, officials said on Sunday.

The ministry of home affairs (MHA) directed on Saturday that the two companies, comprising around 250 personnel, be airlifted from Navi Mumbai aboard an Indian Air Force transport aircraft. The units are expected to reach Pasighat and be deployed by Sunday, officials told news agency PTI.

The RAF is a specialised anti-riot unit of the CRPF whose personnel wear blue uniforms. Several CRPF units are already deployed in the violence-hit areas. Arunachal Pradesh also has a permanent deployment of around two to three CRPF battalions.

Officials said CRPF personnel had effectively handled the protests since Friday and prevented the violence from escalating. Several police and central forces personnel were injured during the clashes, they added.

On Friday night, a mob torched an NHPC office and a police station and vandalised the residences of three political leaders, including the state BJP president, in East Siang district, according to Arunachal Pradesh Police officials.

Arunachal chief minister Pema Khandu said the right to peaceful protest was an essential part of democracy, but stressed that demonstrations must remain within the bounds of the law and should not lead to property damage or disruption of public order.

Describing the incidents in Pasighat as regrettable, Khandu appealed to all sections of society to maintain peace. According to a statement issued by the chief minister's Office (CMO), a 12-hour bandh in Siang, Upper Siang and East Siang districts over the proposed power project remained largely peaceful on Friday.

However, violence broke out in Pasighat after the bandh ended and continued until 3.30 am on Saturday. Protests against the proposed 11,200-MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP) turned violent in Pasighat, East Siang district, on Friday night, with "Gen Z" protesters allegedly setting fire to the NHPC office and a police station and vandalising and looting the residences of two MLAs and the state BJP president, police said.

The violence continued in waves for nearly nine hours into Saturday morning, leaving "over 40 police personnel injured in stone-pelting", police said. A protester was hit in the leg by a tear gas shell and admitted to hospital. Following the violence, the East Siang district administration imposed restrictions on public gatherings and processions in Pasighat, Mebo and Ruksin, citing fears of vandalism, arson and a possible breach of law and order amid protests and bandh-related activities.

India’s proposed 11,200-MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project, planned across three districts of Arunachal, is being pitched as a strategic counter to China’s mega dam upstream. But the plan has faced resistance from indigenous tribes, who fear the reservoir could submerge villages and sever their deep-rooted ties with the river. Known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet, the Siang enters Arunachal Pradesh near Gelling and flows for 294km before meeting the Dibang and Lohit rivers at Sadiya in Assam to form the Brahmaputra.