Building India`s highest dam in the heart of Arunachal

The 3,000-Mw Dibang Project will boast the highest dam in the country when it is constructed. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone for the project in January 2008, but with the land and livelihood of the 12,000-strong Idu Mishmi people of the region at stake, and with the alleged gaps in the approval process, the start of construction in this picturesque region could take its own time, finds Anand Sankar, who visited the valley and met the Idu Mishmi people.

Travelling through the districts of Lower Dibang Valley and Dibang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh is a breathtaking and surreal experience. From Roing — the only town at the base of the Lower Dibang Valley — the road winds its way uphill through dense tropical jungle, following steep ridges that crown rivers whose water is the most emerald green.

The two districts get their name from Dibang river, again a major tributary to the Brahmaputra. The hills in the region are called Mishmi Hills, derived from the name of the indigenous people — Idu Mishmi —who inhabit the area.

The project made news when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone of the project on January 31, 2008, during his visit to Arunachal Pradesh. The plaque was, however, set in Itanagar, 200 km away from the proposed site. Not much has happened since then. The proposed dam site at Muli, 45 km from Roing, and accessible only after a three-hour hike through jungle, is as silent as ever.

The peace is broken at the picturesque village of New Anaya, upstream on the banks of the river Ithun, a tributary of Dibang. The village, which has about 300 residents, of whom 109 are registered voters, will be submerged under about 80 metres of water when the dam is built. Says a miffed school teacher of the village, Sikku Mimi: "We will never allow such a large dam to be built on our land."