India, May 23 -- Hundreds of people took to the streets in three Arunachal Pradesh districts on Friday against the deployment of central paramilitary forces for surveys for a hydropower project on the Siang river at Beging in the state's East Siang district. The government has maintained that the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP) would counter the potential risks a mega Chinese hydropower project across the border on the same river poses.

Residents have opposed SUMP and held protests since November. They have resisted attempts to conduct surveys and feasibility studies, prompting the Union government to deploy central paramilitary for them and thwart protests. The deployment triggered the fresh protests.

Nith Paron, a resident, sa...