Thane: The opposition to a proposed Amazon data centre in Balkum, Majiwada and Dhokali has not died down. Residents in these neighbourhoods are objecting to the electricity and water the facility will draw, and to the load it will place on local infrastructure.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis defended the projects at a Diwali interaction with reporters at his Varsha residence on Tuesday. "Data centres are already operational in Mumbai, but no one is facing trouble. The government has assured that data centres in Thane and Navi Mumbai will use treated water and not fresh water," he said.
"The government will insist on less power- and water-demanding data centres. But from the national security point of view, we should maintain our data, for which data centres are needed," Fadnavis added.
He also backed the pumped-storage hydropower project at Karjat, where a proposed 3,000 MW plant by Torrent Power at Saidongar would divert around 233 hectares of forest land and involve felling 32,490 trees in the Sahyadri range. Residents, environmentalists and opposition parties have protested.
"When power demand is low, solar power at the site will be used to pump water from the lower dam to the upper dam. So, the same amount of water will be used for the whole year to generate hydropower," Fadnavis said. He claimed pumped-storage projects would compensate for the tree cutting, with the company undertaking afforestation.
Opposition leaders have questioned the transparency of the clearances and the siting of a large data centre in a densely populated residential area. Environmentalists argue that no amount of compensatory plantation replaces a Sahyadri forest patch and 32,490 standing trees.
None of this has been settled by the Chief Minister's remarks. The treated-water assurance is a commitment, not a condition in any public document, and the Karjat felling still awaits its final clearance.