Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh), October 24 — Amid protests against the proposed 11,200-MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP), a mob torched an NHPC office and a police station and vandalised the residences of two political leaders, including the state BJP chief, in East Siang district, a senior police officer said on Saturday, PTI reported.

Source: PTI via VidiaNews

The incident took place around 11 pm on Friday, hours after a 12-hour bandh against the hydropower project ended, Pasighat Deputy Superintendent of Police Tony Tatak said. Seven police vehicles were burnt, the Assam Tribune reported. The agitators vandalised the residences of BJP state unit president and former MLA Kaling Moyong and Pasighat West legislator Ninong Ering, and the office of the Adi Bane Kebang, the apex body of the Adi community, was also ransacked, Tatak said.

Source: NewsPlainly (PTI / Assam Tribune)

Several police personnel were injured after protesters allegedly hurled stones at them in Pasighat, the officer said, adding that Tatak himself was among the injured and that authorities were still assessing the extent of the damage on Saturday. The protesters had come from the Mebo area, he said.

Earlier on Friday, protesters clashed with police in Siang district during the bandh, which was called across Siang, Upper Siang and East Siang districts by the Adi Bane Kebang United and allied groups. Around 150–200 protesters tried to breach barricades at Dite-Dime near Geku, and police fired tear gas shells to disperse them; at least four women were taken to hospital with breathing difficulties, according to police accounts reported by PTI.

The groups are demanding the release of 10 anti-dam activists detained earlier this month, a halt to the pre-feasibility survey work for the project, and the withdrawal of security forces from the Siang region. The Siang river flows into India from Tibet and becomes the Brahmaputra in Assam; the project is still at the survey stage.

Chief Minister Pema Khandu condemned the violence on Saturday and offered round-table talks, PTI reported. The Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee also condemned the violence and demanded an independent inquiry into the use of tear gas against protesters during the bandh. No arrests over the Pasighat arson had been announced by Saturday afternoon, and no curfew or internet shutdown had been reported.

Source: DY365 (PTI reports)