HRF is calling on both the State and Union governments to immediately halt all land acquisition and clearance processes related to the project. They demand full public disclosure of all documents including MOUs, power and water allocation agreements, compensation frameworks and environmental impact reports.
Groundxero | October 18, 2025
The Human Rights Forum (HRF) has sounded the alarm over the Andhra Pradesh government’s recent approval of a massive data-centre complex by Google and Adani Group in Visakhapatnam and Anakapalli districts with investments worth several billion dollars. What is being presented as a flagship “digital growth” initiative, the HRF argues, is instead a potential ecological and economic calamity.
According to the HRF, Google and Adani have received clearance to build a one-gigawatt (1 GW) data-centre cluster across three sites: 200 acres at Tarluvada, 120 acres across Adavivaram and Mudasarlova in Visakhapatnam district, and 160 acres at Rambilli in Anakapalli district. The project also includes a subsea optical-fibre cable landing station to be developed by Sify Infinit Spaces Ltd., under the Andhra Pradesh government’s G.O. MS No. 40 dated 11 October 2025.
As the world has digitized, the importance of data centres has risen enormously. From streaming movies to online shopping, and from supply chain management to financial transactions, consumers and businesses alike rely heavily on this largely hidden digital infrastructure. In the age of AI, this trend has further accelerated, and the global data centre capacity is expected to almost triple by 2030.
While economies across the world are racing to attract investment in digital infrastructure for the AI-driven Data Centre boom, however, the environmental risks of locating these vast banks of servers cannot be overlooked. Decisions on where to locate these data centres have become more complex and controversial over recent years. Racks of the latest AI chips consume more than ten times as much energy as their predecessors and generate so much heat that air conditioning is no longer sufficient to keep them cool. Operators must now use liquid cooling: millions of litres of cold water pumped into server rooms to take the heat away. Data Centres are notoriously water-and energy-hungry, consuming billions of litres annually for cooling and maintenance. That’s why data centres, like those in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, are no longer welcome in the US and Europe. And the Big Tech giants, taking advantage of lax environmental regulations are setting up such huge polluting AI-driven digital complexes to countries like India and China.
The proposed Google Data Center at Vizag is not only going to be a very expensive white elephant saddling Andhra Pradesh with a huge financial burden but also poses environmental risks that cannot be simply overlooked. HRF has called the project an enterprise that risks irreversible ecological damage, massive public resource diversion and deepening corporate capture of resources under the guise of technological advancement.
The state government has already given the Google-Adani project a massive fiscal and non-fiscal incentives amounting to an astounding Rs 22,002 crore over 20 years in the form of tax exemptions, land allocation and discounted tariffs, and reimbursements for water, power and infrastructure. These, HRF say, are “corporate giveaways” which divert public resources away from sectors like healthcare, education and rural development. Further, the huge power-guzzling appetite of the project will impose a huge load on an already overburdened AP’s power grid and the cost will have to be borne by common consumers.
In Visakhapatnam, where groundwater depletion, erratic rainfall and climate variability have already created acute water stress, such a project will almost certainly intensify the crisis, diverting precious water from local residents amounts to a grave injustice, said HRF. “Given Vizag’s hot climate, the proposed complex would require even more water-intensive cooling systems, further lowering groundwater tables and risking contamination of local water sources through chemical run off and waste discharge.
Another critical concern is energy consumption. A one-gigawatt facility would demand enormous amounts of electricity, equivalent to powering a mid-size city with lakhs of homes, straining an already overburdened grid. Google’s claims that this hyperscale facility, which will run on 100% renewable energy is technically untenable, and is a false assertion. The State’s grid cannot supply uninterrupted renewable power without fossil-fuel backup which makes the project’s so-called ‘green’ credentials a deceptive façade,” HRF state general secretary, Y. Rajesh and HRF AP&TG coordination committee member, VS Krishna, said.
HRF pointed out that it is precisely because of such environmental, energy, and water concerns, that communities around the world have mobilised against Data Centre projects, many of them far smaller than the one being planned in Visakhapatnam and Anakapalli. It said that in recent months, public resistance has forced Google to abandon Data Centre plants in Indianapolis and Berlin underscoring a growing global recognition that these facilities pose unacceptable ecological and social risks that are often masked by the rhetoric of digital progress.
The HRF highlights serious concerns about transparency: “No cumulative Environmental Impact Assessment has been made public,” and the clearance from the State Level Expert Appraisal Committee appears to have been granted without substantive evaluation. The land-pooling and acquisition mechanism used to earmark the sites, the forum says, is opaque, with reports of small landholders and farmers being coerced into “voluntary” relinquishment.
The forum challenges the government’s narrative of wide-ranging local benefits. “Data-centres are highly automated,” HRF argues, creating only a few hundred long-term jobs — mostly specialist roles likely filled by external recruits. The bulk of employment, they say, will be temporary construction and low-skill maintenance. In contrast, the intended profit flows will largely benefit distant corporations, not the local economy.
Beyond the material impacts, HRF also points to deeper questions of digital sovereignty. A hyperscale Google facility, they warn, places critical state digital infrastructure — governance, welfare services, cloud/AI platforms — firmly under the control of a profit-driven multinational. This, the forum states, poses profound risks for accountability, data privacy and democracy.
HRF further calls out Google’s global operations for enabling surveillance and data exploitation, citing recent reports by Amnesty International. The forum also links Adani to military-industrial ties via its joint venture with Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest private weapons manufacturer.
HRF is calling on both the State and Union governments to immediately halt all land acquisition and clearance processes related to the project. They demand full public disclosure of all documents including MOUs, power and water allocation agreements, compensation frameworks and environmental impact reports. The HRF emphasises that genuine technological progress must be rooted in democratic process, sustainability, local autonomy and rights for people — not corporate capture via secrecy.
“True progress cannot be built on secrecy or corporate collusion,” the HRF said, reiterating that “technological advancement must be anchored firmly in equity, environmental justice and respect for the rights of people.”
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The statement was issued by Y. Rajesh (State General Secretary, HRF AP) and V.S. Krishna (HRF AP & TG Coordination Committee) on 18 October 2025 from Visakhapatnam.