Stop the Data Center Assault on Vizag
The Issue
Visakhapatnam is witnessing an alarming and rapid surge of data center projects across ecologically fragile and densely populated regions. These projects are being advanced with little transparency, no meaningful public consultation and major unresolved environmental concerns.
The most immediate threat is the Google-Adani Hyperscale data center at Adavivaram-Mudasarlova, barely 120 metres from the Mudasarlova reservoir and squarely within its catchment area. Mudasarlova is a critical drinking water source for the city and construction at this site threatens natural water flows into the reservoir. The project site also lies within the sensitive hill ecosystems connected to the Kailasagiri-Kambalakonda forest landscape.
Large-scale hill cutting, deforestation and intensive construction in this sensitive zone threaten the city’s water security, biodiversity and environmental stability. In a brazen act of environmental lawlessness, forest land at the site was cleared by the project proponent over several months even before Environmental Clearance was obtained.
At the same time, large-scale data center projects are proliferating across the Visakhapatnam region - from Tarluvada near the Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary, to Rambilli on the Anakapalli coast and near Bhogapuram, where Reliance Industries has proposed a massive 1.5 GW facility. Most recently, the State government approved the expansion of Sifi Infinit Spaces’ 500 MW data center on a 50-acre site within the Eco-Sensitive Zone of the Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary at Paradesipalem. Taken together, the projects at Tarluvada, Adavivaram and Paradesipalem would effectively encircle the Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary, a critical ecological refuge and lung space for the region. If allowed to proceed, these projects will permanently reshape Vizag’s hills, coastline and surrounding ecosystems. Their enormous demand for land, water and power risks overwhelming regional infrastructure and accelerating ecological degradation on an unprecedented scale.
As is known, data centers are among the most resource-intensive industrial facilities. They consume vast amounts of electricity, water and cooling infrastructure while generating limited long-term employment. Across the world, they are attracting growing scrutiny for their heavy energy use, carbon footprint, water consumption, waste generation and burden on local infrastructure, earning them the label ‘dirty data’. Yet in India, such projects are being aggressively pushed into ecologically sensitive and already fragile landscapes without any assessment of their cumulative environmental and social consequences.
These data centers are being promoted as symbols of ‘development’ and ‘digital progress.’ But the destruction of forests, reservoir catchments, farmlands and coastal ecosystems is not development. It is ecological devastation. Visakhapatnam is not an empty industrial corridor to be carved up for corporate profit. It is a living landscape of hills, wetlands, forests, fishing communities, villages and millions of people whose lives are intertwined with its natural systems.
We Demand:
- Immediate suspension of all ongoing land clearing, hill cutting, excavation and site preparation activities at all data center locations.
- Full public disclosure of all project details, including land allocation, water requirements, power demand, environmental studies and agreements signed by government agencies.
- A comprehensive cumulative environmental impact assessment of all proposed data center projects in and around Visakhapatnam, including Adavivaram, Tarluvada, Rambilli and Bhogapuram.
- Protection of reservoir catchments, forested hills, wetlands, coastal ecosystems and other ecologically sensitive areas from resource-intensive industrial development.
- Visakhapatnam’s future cannot be sacrificed for unchecked corporate expansion.
Sign this petition to defend our water, forests, coast and future before the damage becomes irreversible.
Check out our statements for more information:
https://humanrightsforum.org/google-data-center-represents-a-looming-environmental-economic-disaster-hrf/
https://humanrightsforum.org/brazen-illegalities-at-proposed-adavivaram-data-center/
https://humanrightsforum.org/google-data-center-mou-must-be-made-public/
https://humanrightsforum.org/suspend-environmental-clearances-to-hyperscale-data-parks-hrf/
Campaign site: stopdirtydatacenters.org
11,569
The Issue
Visakhapatnam is witnessing an alarming and rapid surge of data center projects across ecologically fragile and densely populated regions. These projects are being advanced with little transparency, no meaningful public consultation and major unresolved environmental concerns.
The most immediate threat is the Google-Adani Hyperscale data center at Adavivaram-Mudasarlova, barely 120 metres from the Mudasarlova reservoir and squarely within its catchment area. Mudasarlova is a critical drinking water source for the city and construction at this site threatens natural water flows into the reservoir. The project site also lies within the sensitive hill ecosystems connected to the Kailasagiri-Kambalakonda forest landscape.
Large-scale hill cutting, deforestation and intensive construction in this sensitive zone threaten the city’s water security, biodiversity and environmental stability. In a brazen act of environmental lawlessness, forest land at the site was cleared by the project proponent over several months even before Environmental Clearance was obtained.
At the same time, large-scale data center projects are proliferating across the Visakhapatnam region - from Tarluvada near the Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary, to Rambilli on the Anakapalli coast and near Bhogapuram, where Reliance Industries has proposed a massive 1.5 GW facility. Most recently, the State government approved the expansion of Sifi Infinit Spaces’ 500 MW data center on a 50-acre site within the Eco-Sensitive Zone of the Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary at Paradesipalem. Taken together, the projects at Tarluvada, Adavivaram and Paradesipalem would effectively encircle the Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary, a critical ecological refuge and lung space for the region. If allowed to proceed, these projects will permanently reshape Vizag’s hills, coastline and surrounding ecosystems. Their enormous demand for land, water and power risks overwhelming regional infrastructure and accelerating ecological degradation on an unprecedented scale.
As is known, data centers are among the most resource-intensive industrial facilities. They consume vast amounts of electricity, water and cooling infrastructure while generating limited long-term employment. Across the world, they are attracting growing scrutiny for their heavy energy use, carbon footprint, water consumption, waste generation and burden on local infrastructure, earning them the label ‘dirty data’. Yet in India, such projects are being aggressively pushed into ecologically sensitive and already fragile landscapes without any assessment of their cumulative environmental and social consequences.
These data centers are being promoted as symbols of ‘development’ and ‘digital progress.’ But the destruction of forests, reservoir catchments, farmlands and coastal ecosystems is not development. It is ecological devastation. Visakhapatnam is not an empty industrial corridor to be carved up for corporate profit. It is a living landscape of hills, wetlands, forests, fishing communities, villages and millions of people whose lives are intertwined with its natural systems.
We Demand:
- Immediate suspension of all ongoing land clearing, hill cutting, excavation and site preparation activities at all data center locations.
- Full public disclosure of all project details, including land allocation, water requirements, power demand, environmental studies and agreements signed by government agencies.
- A comprehensive cumulative environmental impact assessment of all proposed data center projects in and around Visakhapatnam, including Adavivaram, Tarluvada, Rambilli and Bhogapuram.
- Protection of reservoir catchments, forested hills, wetlands, coastal ecosystems and other ecologically sensitive areas from resource-intensive industrial development.
- Visakhapatnam’s future cannot be sacrificed for unchecked corporate expansion.
Sign this petition to defend our water, forests, coast and future before the damage becomes irreversible.
Check out our statements for more information:
https://humanrightsforum.org/google-data-center-represents-a-looming-environmental-economic-disaster-hrf/
https://humanrightsforum.org/brazen-illegalities-at-proposed-adavivaram-data-center/
https://humanrightsforum.org/google-data-center-mou-must-be-made-public/
https://humanrightsforum.org/suspend-environmental-clearances-to-hyperscale-data-parks-hrf/
Campaign site: stopdirtydatacenters.org
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Petition created on 27 May 2026