East Siang district residents of Arunachal Pradesh have promised to keep up their protests against a silicon factory in the Niglok Industrial Growth Centre (IGC), claiming that the state government has not addressed their worries about water and air pollution. On Monday, villagers and representatives of the IGC Pollution-Affected People’s Forum demonstrated in front of the office of the Ruksin Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC). They sent the government a reminder memo during the protest, threatening to escalate their campaign by going on an indefinite hunger strike if their demands were not fulfilled. The demonstrators are calling for the factory to be moved from its present site.Earlier in mid-January, the local MLA and MPs, along with representatives from the East Siang district administration, met with the protesting peasants. The leaders had advised them to halt their demonstration and await the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) conclusions. Additionally, the public officials had promised to address pollution issues by implementing suitable mitigating measures.
The villagers, however, said that these guarantees did not persuade them. They claimed that the authorities have not put in place any adequate mitigation policy to regulate emissions from the silicon facility, which they claim are posing major health risks, despite their repeated appeals. The demonstrators also claimed that Aether Alloys LLP’s business was to blame for the local water and air pollution.They reaffirmed their strong objection to the industry’s continuing operations at the current location. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) Eastern Zone Bench, located in Kolkata, has taken suo motu cognizance of the purported contamination from the silicon facility at Niglok IGC. Hearings in the case were previously set by the tribunal for November 18 of last year and January 23 of this year.
