Work on Google’s planned Indian data centre hub in Andhra Pradesh has been progressing for quite some time, while protests against it have been mounting alongside. The current Andhra Pradesh government has hailed this $15 billion project by the U.S. tech giant as historic and transformational, while denying allegations that it was fast-tracked without weighing the risks to water supplies and wildlife.
As part of a variety of protests, activists and children have recently marched in Visakhapatnam city, displaying banners saying “We cannot drink DATA” and painting handcuffs on the Google logo, as has been found in social media posts. It goes without saying that Google will inevitably face several legal challenges in its bid to make this massive investment in India.
Recently, in a written reply to a question raised in Rajya Sabha, our Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Kirti Vardhan Singh has informed the details of the procedure that our country follows before permitting construction of such data centres.
Accordingly, Artificial Intelligence (AI) Data Centres do not, per se, require Environmental Clearance (EC) under the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006, as amended. However, AI Data Centres proposed as part of a “Building and Construction Project” under Item 8(a), i.e., built up area exceeding 20,000 sq. m or a “Township and Area Development Project” i.e., covering an area ≥ 50 ha and /or built up area ≥ 1,50,000 sq. m under Item 8(b) of the schedule to the EIA Notification, 2006 require prior EC. The EC for such a building project is granted by the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) at the State/UT level.
During the appraisal of such building projects for grant of EC, various aspects such as availability of freshwater particularly in water-stressed regions, water balance report, generation of greywater, recycling and reuse of greywater are duly considered and appropriate environmental safeguards are prescribed.
I feel whether all those protocols were followed, that needs to be verified properly before raising any big agitation against such a prospective project.
Pravita Iyer
Publisher & Director
