TDP urges AP people to thwart conspiracies around data centre projects
The Telugu Desam Party urged Andhra Pradesh people to thwart the conspiracies aimed at obstructing Visakhapatnam's AI and hyperscale data centre projects. The party also warned in a press statement that the campaign by self-proclaimed environmentalists and opposition parties would threaten Rs 1.5 lakh crore investments into the State.
“There is no link between Visakhapatnam’s drinking water supply and the data centres. Of 28.44 TMCs of Polavaram water, 12 TMCs are reserved for the city’s drinking water, and the only 3.5 TMCs from the remaining 7.44 TMCs, which are allocated for irrigation and industry, will be provided to the proposed data centres,” Vijay Kumar Neelayapalem, National Spokesperson, TDP, said in the statement.
He pointed out that Union Minister Kirti Vardhan Singh clarified in Parliament that a mandatory water balance report required for environmental clearance has been issued and added that modern data centres use closed-loop cooling and grey-water recycling.
The TDP spokesperson highlighted that the Andhra Pradesh High Court permitted data centre construction in Visakhapatnam as there was no evidence of environmental destruction. He said the AP Pollution Control Board will monitor operations and facilities that need a Consent to establish before construction and a periodically renewed Consent to Operate, leaving no scope for violations.
Neelayapalem clarified that Google follows a 100 per cent renewable energy policy, which is supplied by Adani, with no impact on domestic supply.
The investments will create jobs for thousands of software engineers, tech professionals and local youth, turning Visakhapatnam into an international "Green AI & Data Hub", he said.
Filing court petitions under the guise of environmentalism to delay projects and blackmail, along with spreading social media propaganda for political gain, damages the state’s name, Neelayapalem added.
