Amidst continuing intense protests against the large dam on the Siang River, Rajesh Kumar has taken charge as the new Director General of Police of Arunachal Pradesh. The Union Home Ministry, through an order, appointed the officer to this top post of the state’s police.
Rajesh Kumar, a senior IPS officer of the 1995 batch who replaces former DGP Shiv Darshan Singh Jamwal, was currently serving as the Special Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). As per the Home Ministry’s order, while Kumar takes charge of Arunachal, Jamwal has been transferred to Delhi. A day earlier, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet had approved the officer’s repatriation from the CRPF to his parent cadre.
This top-level change in the police has taken place at a time when protests by local Adi tribal communities continue against the proposed 11,200 MW ‘Siang Upper Multipurpose Project’ on the Siang River. Local people have intensified their protest fearing that their settlements will be submerged, agricultural land will be destroyed, and the environment will be damaged for the construction of one of India’s largest planned hydroelectric projects.
Meanwhile, ever since China planned to build a huge hydroelectric project on the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet, this Siang project has also gained special military and strategic importance for the Central Government. It is noteworthy that this river flowing from Tibet in China enters India and gets the name Siang.
