12-Hour Bandh Over Anti-Dam Activists’ Release Brings Itanagar to Halt
Students, youths and civil society groups threaten to extend bandh if anti-dam activists are not released.
Guwahati: A 12-hour shutdown called by the People’s Rights Action Committee (PRAC) in Arunachal Pradesh’s Itanagar Capital Region on Wednesday evoked a huge response, with shops and commercial establishments remaining closed while government offices recording a thin attendance.
Students, youth groups and civil society organisations in Arunachal Pradesh have also threatened to turn an ongoing 12-hour bandh into an indefinite statewide shutdown if their demands—centred on the release of detainees from recent anti-dam protests—are not met.
The Public Rights Action Committee (PRAC), a civil society body, enforced the bandh across the Itanagar Capital Region from 5 am to 5 pm on Wednesday. The action follows an earlier ultimatum for the release of people detained in connection with the October 23 protests and violence against the proposed Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP) in the Siang valley districts.
PRAC leaders, including chairman Takam Sonia and General Secretary Millo Ambo, have warned that failure to address the demands could trigger an indefinite statewide bandh starting November 5. Core demands include the immediate and unconditional release of all detainees linked to the anti-SUMP agitation, withdrawal of security forces from project-affected areas, revocation of suspension orders against certain village headmen (gaon-buras), and suspension of ongoing survey work for the project.
The bandh passed off largely peacefully. Capital Superintendent of Police Jummar Basar told reporters that there were no reports of any law-and-order problems or untoward incidents. Additional security personnel were deployed at key locations, including the Civil Secretariat and Lok Bhavan, as a precautionary measure.
The District Magistrate of the Itanagar Capital Region had earlier declared the bandh call unlawful and illegal.
The current agitation builds on weeks of protests by student unions, youth organisations and community groups against large hydropower projects, particularly the proposed 11,200 MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project. Earlier 12-hour and longer bandhs in East Siang, Siang and Upper Siang districts involved groups such as the Adi Bane Kebang United Youth Wing, SUMP Affected Area Youth Association (SAAYA), Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Forum and various students’ unions. Those protests, driven by concerns over displacement, loss of ancestral land, environmental impact and indigenous rights, saw clashes, arrests (including more than two dozen people in Pasighat), and related actions.
