Letter by Shri E A S Sarma, Former Secretary to Government of India to the Secretary, Union Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change
28/04/2026
To
Shri Tanmay Kumar
Secretary
Union Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MEFCC)
My letter of 25-4-2026 addressed to you on how a flawed Environment Clearance had been issued by APSEIAA in favour of Vizag Mega Data Center Park Ltd (VMDCPL) is extracted below.
To the best of my understanding, VMDCPL is a part of the much publicised, larger Data Centre being set up by Google through its subsidiary, Raiden and with the Adani Group, in and around Visakhapatnam over an extent of more than 600 acres comprising three locations.
I find that, instead of taking all the three components of the Google Data Center together and subjecting them to a cumulative environmental impact appraisal, APSEIAA, for reasons best known to it, has broken it into parts and has issued ECs in a summary, piecemeal manner, evidently under pressure from the political leadership of AP.
I have since come across the second piecemeal EC issued by APSEIAA (AP INFRA 2 EC AKP 04 2026 2516 dated18-4-2026), this time in favour of M/S Vizag Rambilli Data Center Park Ltd (VRDCPL), though as a whole, all these components of Google Data Center will collectively stress the common water supply system of Visakhapatnam, accentuating the already accute water shortage of the city and its surroundings, in addition to causing other serious environmental impacts.
As in the case of VMDCPL, APSEIAA has, in a hurry to clear the project, arrogated to itself the authority to appraise VRDCPL project by erroneously considering it as a Category B project.
The Rambilli area where the project is being located is in the vicinity of at least six notified Reserved Forests as follows:
Kalavalapalli R.F -1.98km West,
Rambilli R.F- 1.3km NW,
Sitapalem P.F- 1.9KM SE,
Rambilli P.F- 1.6km South,
Gokivada R.F- 7.1km NW,
Pudimadaka R.F – 7.2KM SE
In addition, according to an assessment made by the Central Groundwater Board (CGWB) (https://cgwb.gov.in/sites/default/files/MainLinks/Andhra%20Pradesh_State_Report_Resource_2020.pdf), the local groundwater sources in Rambilli already stand critically polluted due to existing industrial units. Unfortunately, the EIA report prepared by a consultant does not consider this. The 2006 EIA Notification (SO No.1533 dated 14th September, 2006) clearly stipulates as follows:
“General Condition (GC):
Any project or activity specified in Category ‘B’ will be treated as Category A, if located in whole or in part within 10 km from the boundary of: (i) Protected Areas notified under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, (ii) Critically Polluted areas as notified by the Central Pollution Control Board from time to time, (iii) Notified Eco-sensitive areas, (iv) inter-State boundaries and international boundaries”
In view of the above, the VRDCPL project ought to have been considered as a Category A project and posed to MEFCC for appraisal.
Evidently, considering that the State’s political leaders are in a great hurry to “inaugurate” the project today, APSEIAA, which in effect is a wing of MOEFCC, felt it could circumvent the law of the land for political expediency.
I suggest that MEFCC revokes both the ECs, advise the State to pose it for a more comprehensive, meaningful appraisal by your Ministry. APSEIAA needs to reformed to enable it to discharge the responsibilities for which it has been created.
In the US, the residents of Indianapolis have opposed Google setting up a similar data center in view of its disruptive environmental impacts (https://www.axios.com/local/indianapolis/2025/09/23/google-data-center-project-opposition-withdrawal) It is unfortunate that the authorities in India should subordinate public interest to a foreign company’s interests.
The primary commitment of your Ministry is to conserving the environment as envisaged in Article 48A of the Constitution, not to promoting business interests of private companies.
Regards,
Yours sincerely,
E A S Sarma
Former Secretary to the Government of India
Visakhapatnam
Letter dated 25-4-2026
Dear Shri Tanmay Kumar,
This is with reference to an environmental clearance given by the APSEIAA for a Data Center being set up by the US company, Google (through its subsidiary Raiden) and the Adani Group in Tarulavada village in Anandapuram Mandal of Visakhapatnam district. I am surprised that APSEIAA took upon itself the authority to issue Environment Clearance under pressure from AP government, vide communication dated AP INFRA2 EC VSP 04 2026 2517 dated 18-4-2026, despite the fact that 90% of the area of the land in which the Data Centre is being located occupies the Pedda Chukka Konda Reserve Forest. APSEIAA, in an undue haste, stated in the above cited communication that the “Survey of India toposheet does not show any forest” in that land. It is all the more surprising that the local Forest officers were forced to agree with that and issue a no-objection certificate.
Secondly, the 2006 EIA Notification (SO No.1533 dated 14th September, 2006) clearly stipulates as follows:
“General Condition (GC):
Any project or activity specified in Category ‘B’ will be treated as Category A, if located in whole or in part within 10 km from the boundary of: (i) Protected Areas notified under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, (ii) Critically Polluted areas as notified by the Central Pollution Control Board from time to time, (iii) Notified Eco-sensitive areas, (iv) inter-State boundaries and international boundaries”
In addition to the fact that the land in which the Data Centre is being set up occupies 90% of the Pedda Chuuka Konda RF, it is also within 1.53 km from the Kambalakonda Wild Life Sanctuary in respect of which the MEFCC had notified an ecosensitive zone vide S.O. 1366(E) dated 28th April, 2017.
It is unfortunate that the APSEIAA, instead of complying with the regulations notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, should wantonly take up the project EIA and issue Environment Clearance in an undue haste.
This project ought to have been submitted by the AP government to the MEFCC for appraisal as a Category A project by the Central Environment Appraisal Committee and also for appraisal by the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC).
I may remind your Ministry of the Supreme Court’s recent T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India rulings (notably in 2024 and 2025) for strongly enforcing the “prior clearance” rule, mandating that any non-forest activity on forest land requires prior approval, and the court has heavily restricted ex post facto environmental clearances.
In addition, I wish to say that a one GW data centre of this kind is known to be a water guzzler and its location in a water-deficient area like Visakhapatnam raises other kind of environmental concerns. That is the reason that the project should necessarily be appraised carefully as a Category A project.
On the other hand, the AP government, after securing such a flawed Environment Clearance, is moving fast to get the Data Centre “inaugurated” in a few days, which in my view would constitute an affront to the apex court’s directions.
I suggest that your Ministry urgently should direct the AP government and the APPCB to pose the project for appraisal as a Category A project and, meanwhile, defer any work on the project till such an appraisal has been carried out and the statutory processes gone through properly.
I am marking a copy of this letter to the DG (Forests) of your Ministry, the Chief Secretary, AP and APPCB so that they may respect the apex court’s directions and proceed as per the statutory requirements.
In conclusion, I wish to caution your Ministry that all is not well with the way projects are appraised by State SEIAAs and MEFCC will have to overhaul them.
Regards,
Yours sincerely,
E A S Sarma
Visakhapatnam
25-4-2026