Residents hold protest against Amazon data centre in Thane

Mumbai: Amazon's upcoming Rs 45,000-crore data centre in Thane has run into political and local opposition after more than a hundred residents protested against the project outside the gates of the 58-acre site.

Wearing T-shirts emblazoned with 'Wake up Thanekar' and carrying placards and banners opposing the project, residents demanded that the data centre be shifted from the area, claiming it would cause noise pollution, environmental hazards and a shortage of water and power.

Local NCP(SP) leader Manoj Pradhan, who led the protest, said data centres are known to cause noise pollution and hence should not be located in residential areas.


He also warned about water shortage. "Data centre requires a huge amount of water per day and already there are several buildings in Thane that are not getting water from the Thane municipal corporation due to a short fall. With the data centre, the problem would get accentuated."

Big-ticket infrastructure and other investment projects in Maharashtra have been derailed by opposition from political parties. In the current case, BJP ally Shiv Sena has also opposed the project.

Shiv Sena leader and Lok Sabha MP from Thane Naresh Mhaske has already shot off letters to the Thane municipal commissioner seeking a stay on the project for violating several norms like cutting more trees for the project than what was sanctioned and a review of the project permissions by an independent expert committee, and also a detailed public hearing of the project.

Maharashtra is betting big on data centres and is keen to develop the Mumbai Metropolitan Region into a hub of investment for data centres. The state government believes 60% of India's data centres would be located in the MMR region comprising Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivli, Ulhasnagar, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Vasai-Virar, Mira Bhayandar and Panvel.