Retired Union Energy Secretary EAS Sarma has written to the Centre urging it to revoke clearances, alleging the Andhra Pradesh government granted approvals in a 'hurried' and 'piecemeal' manner under political pressure.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his son Nara Lokesh celebrated Visakhapatnam's emergence as a data hub following the foundation stone laying for a Google AI data centre. Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian also lauded the commencement of the groundbreaking work at Vizag. Hoever, a senior retired bureaucrat has called out on the repurcussions of building such a large data center, and aimed it straight at the Environment Ministry in New Delhi.
EAS Sarma, a former IAS officer who served as Secretary to the Government of India in the Union Ministry of Energy, has written to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), urging it to revoke environmental clearances (ECs) granted to two data centre projects in Andhra Pradesh. He alleged that the approvals were issued in violation of statutory environmental norms and under political pressure.
"Even in the US, a city rejected Google's data centre over water and energy concerns. How can Andhra Pradesh provide 2.7 to 4.1 million gallons of water a day for a single 1-GW data centre when local reservoirs are barely sufficient for residents and industries?" Sarma asked, according to local news media Great Andhra.
Clearances granted in 'hurried, piecemeal' manner
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