The Centre has dispatched two companies of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) of the Central Reserve Police Force to Arunachal Pradesh after protests against a proposed mega hydroelectric project turned violent in the Siang region. The personnel, numbering around 250, were airlifted from Navi Mumbai by Indian Air Force transport aircraft on Saturday, 25 October, and were to deploy in Pasighat in East Siang district by Sunday.
The deployment follows violence on Friday night during protests against the proposed 11,200-MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project. According to reports, a mob torched an office of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) and a police station, and vandalised the residences of three political leaders, including the state BJP chief. One report said six police vehicles were torched near Raneghat Bridge.
More than 40 police personnel were injured in stone-pelting, police said, while one protester was hospitalised after being hit by a tear-gas shell, according to reports. The violence followed a 12-hour bandh observed across Siang, Upper Siang and East Siang districts, reflecting the depth of local anger over the project.
Chief Minister Pema Khandu described the incidents as regrettable and appealed for peace. He said peaceful protest is part of democracy but must remain within the bounds of law, a formulation that sought both to acknowledge the right to dissent and to draw a firm line against arson and attacks on public property. The state government now faces the delicate task of restoring calm while keeping channels of dialogue open.
The project at the heart of the unrest has long divided opinion in the region. The proposed Siang Upper Multipurpose Project, with a planned capacity of 11,200 MW, would be among the largest hydroelectric ventures in the country. The government views it as strategically important, particularly amid upstream dam building by China, arguing that it would strengthen both energy security and India’s leverage over river flows.
Opposition, however, runs deep among indigenous Adi communities, who fear displacement from their ancestral lands and lasting damage to the ecology of the Siang river valley. For communities whose identity, livelihood and culture are tied to the river and its surrounding forests, a project of this scale raises questions that go beyond compensation: what happens to villages, farmland, sacred sites and a way of life built around the river.
Multiple CRPF units are already deployed in the region, and the state has a permanent presence of two to three CRPF battalions. The arrival of the two additional RAF companies is intended to reinforce the local administration’s capacity to maintain order, particularly in Pasighat, which has emerged as a focal point of the agitation. The RAF is specially trained for crowd control and riot situations, and its deployment signals that the Centre expects tensions to remain high in the coming days.
The immediate challenge for the authorities is twofold. First, they must prevent a recurrence of Friday night’s violence and ensure the safety of residents, officials and public property. Second, and more difficult, they must address the underlying grievances that brought thousands onto the streets. A security response alone cannot settle questions of displacement, environmental impact and consent that lie at the core of the opposition.
How the state government engages with community leaders and protest organisers in the days ahead will be watched closely, both within Arunachal Pradesh and in other parts of the Northeast where large infrastructure projects have faced similar resistance. For now, Pasighat remains under a heightened security watch, and the appeal from the Chief Minister for peace is the clearest official signal of the path the government hopes the region will take.
