Escalating tensions in India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh have triggered fresh outbreaks of violence as local residents fiercely protest against contentious hydroelectric developments. In the town of Daporijo, student organizations enforced a disruptive 12-hour general strike targeting the 1,605-megawatt Upper Subansiri hydroelectric plant, widely known as the Menga Dam project, demanding its permanent cancellation by the authorities.

Reports from the region indicate that the protests quickly deteriorated into violent clashes. A police vehicle was reportedly damaged, and a constable sustained injuries, while strike supporters allegedly vandalized an office rented by India's flagship hydroelectric generation company, setting essential equipment ablaze. Local law enforcement units subsequently conducted flag marches in a desperate bid to restore order.

Communities across the mountainous state remain deeply unsettled, expressing genuine fears regarding mass displacement, the irreversible loss of ancestral territories, severe ecological degradation, and heightened seismic vulnerabilities. These grievances follow similar violent disturbances in Pasighat, where police resorted to tear gas against youths demonstrating against the massive 11,000-megawatt Siang Upper Multipurpose Project.

Concurrently, in New Delhi, India's Supreme Court is slated to hear petitions directed against the Chief Election Commissioner over alleged irregularities and controversial revisions of electoral rolls. Ahead of the judicial scrutiny, the election body submitted an affidavit claiming that all disputed decisions were purportedly made unanimously.

Source: www.dw.com