Amazon’s Balkum Data Centre: Approvals Are Not the End of the Story — Thane Deserves Full Disclosure*

 *Amazon’s Balkum Data Centre: Approvals Are Not the End of the Story — Thane Deserves Full Disclosure*

*What is the current status of the 422-MW project, and what must Amazon and the Government now place in the public domain?*

-- By Dayanand Nene

[Text of my article in Pune Mirror Mumbai Edition today.]

The controversy surrounding Amazon’s proposed hyperscale data centre at Balkum–Majiwada in Thane has now entered a crucial phase.

This is no longer merely a question of whether Thane should welcome a major technology investment. There is little disagreement that data centres are an important part of India’s digital and AI infrastructure. The real question is whether a project of this scale, located in a densely urbanised part of Thane, is being developed with adequate transparency, proper land-use compliance, infrastructure planning and protection of the interests of surrounding citizens.

The project has already received significant regulatory approvals. Therefore, the public debate should now move beyond allegations and counter-allegations and focus on a simple principle:

If everything has been done according to law, why should there be any hesitation in making every relevant document publicly accessible?

Where does the project stand today?

The proposed facility is a large-scale Amazon Web Services data-centre development at Balkum and Majiwada.

The environmental-clearance record identifies the project as the “New Development of Data Centre at Balkum & Majiwada villages, Thane, Maharashtra by Amazon Data Services India Private Limited”, under application/statement number 477127. The project was considered as a Category B1 project.

Importantly, the project did receive Environmental Clearance from SEIAA, Maharashtra on September 23, 2025, under EC No. EC24C3801MH5918966N and File No. SIA/MH/INFRA2/477127/2024.

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board has also dealt with the project's Consent to Establish. An MPCB record describes a total project area of approximately 221,465 sq. metres, with Phase-I involving approximately 73,603 sq. metres of plot area and about 81,066 sq. metres of built-up area.

In other words, this is not simply a proposal sitting on paper. Site preparation and construction activity have been reported, and the project is moving forward.

At the same time, serious questions have been raised by citizens about the location, water arrangements, power infrastructure, noise, diesel-generator operations, tree removal, traffic, safety and the relationship between the project's approved plans and the infrastructure being created around it.

On July 18, hundreds of citizens participated in a public protest at Balkum. The controversy subsequently moved into an institutional phase.

A significant development: the Municipal Commissioner’s report

The most important recent development is perhaps not the protest itself but what happened afterwards.

Following discussions involving citizen representatives, the Thane Municipal Commissioner, Saurabh Rao, submitted a detailed report concerning the Balkum Data Centre to the Principal Secretary, Industries Department, Government of Maharashtra.

The report records concerns raised by citizens regarding land use, public health, environmental impact, safety associated with fuel storage, traffic and the need for wider public consultation. The matter has consequently moved from the municipal level to the State Government.

This is significant.

The issue can no longer reasonably be dismissed as merely an agitation by a handful of residents. The municipal administration itself has formally placed the concerns before the State Government.

Amazon’s position must also be acknowledged

Amazon has publicly rejected several allegations.

According to Amazon, the Thane facility will not use water for cooling, and the approved water supply permit is 0.01 MLD, or approximately 10,000 litres per day, for basic human requirements such as drinking water and sanitation. Amazon also says its Indian data centres currently do not use water for cooling.

Amazon has further stated that the facility will use a dedicated high-voltage power arrangement rather than drawing power from the local distribution network serving ordinary residential and commercial consumers.

The company has also said that tree removal has been undertaken pursuant to permissions issued by the Thane Municipal Corporation and that more native trees will be planted in compensation.

Amazon maintains that its EIA and supporting documents are available on the Government's PARIVESH portal and that it is complying with all applicable environmental and local laws.

These statements should be taken seriously.

But they also make the demand for transparency even more compelling.

The biggest unanswered question: 0.01 MLD or 12 MLD?

One of the most striking discrepancies in the public debate concerns water.

Media reports have quoted the Thane Municipal Corporation as saying that 12 MLD of treated sewage water was proposed to be supplied to the data centre, at a reported rate of ₹7.50 per 1,000 litres.

Amazon, on the other hand, publicly states that the approved water supply permit for the facility is only 0.01 MLD and that water will not be used for cooling.

There have also been references in the public debate to project documents indicating water requirements of around 125 KLD.

These numbers cannot simply coexist without explanation.

If 12 MLD is merely a proposed municipal infrastructure allocation and the actual approved requirement is 0.01 MLD, the Government should say so.

If 12 MLD is intended for some future phase, construction requirement, emergency requirement or cooling arrangement, that too should be clearly stated.

If the project is genuinely designed to operate without water-based cooling, citizens deserve to know why a 12-MLD treated-water supply arrangement has been discussed at all.

One authoritative, signed document can settle this controversy.

The same transparency is needed on electricity

The proposed facility is widely reported as a 422-MW hyperscale data centre.

Amazon says it will not draw power from the local residential and commercial distribution network but will have a dedicated high-voltage substation.

That is an important assurance.

But citizens should be told:

What is the sanctioned electrical load?

Who is the supplying utility?

What is the exact location and capacity of the dedicated substation?

What transmission lines and substations are being constructed?

Who bears the cost of that infrastructure?

What is the maximum demand expected in Phase I and ultimately at full build-out?

What are the arrangements during grid failure?

Will the project receive any preferential electricity allocation or infrastructure concession?

A hyperscale data centre is fundamentally an energy-intensive installation. Therefore, electricity planning should not remain a matter between the developer and utility alone.

The 193-generator question

Another issue requiring documentary clarity is the backup power system.

Publicly reported project documents have referred to a large number of diesel generator sets, with 193 generators cited in discussions surrounding the project.

Amazon says these generators will not operate continuously and will generally be run briefly for testing and during emergencies.

That explanation is reasonable as far as it goes.

But citizens should be able to see the actual technical approval.

What is the capacity of each generator?

What is the total installed DG capacity?

How much diesel can be stored on site?

What are the fire-safety arrangements?

What are the stack heights?

What are the permissible emission limits?

What noise levels are predicted at the property boundary and at the nearest residential buildings?

What is the cumulative impact when all emergency systems are considered together?

These are technical questions, and they should be answered by technical documents—not political statements.

Location and land-use compliance

Perhaps the most fundamental question is the planning and zoning basis on which such a hyperscale facility has been permitted at Balkum–Majiwada.

Citizens are entitled to know:

Under which specific Development Plan zoning classification and which specific provision of the applicable Development Control Regulations was the data centre permitted on each survey/gut number comprising the site?

The Government should publish:

The sanctioned layout.

The Development Plan zoning map applicable to every parcel.

The exact land-use classification.

The permissible use under the applicable DCR/DCPR.

The building permission.

Commencement Certificate.

Development permission.

Fire NOC.

MPCB Consent to Establish and subsequent amendments.

Environmental Clearance and all conditions attached to it.

Tree-felling permission.

Traffic impact assessment.

Disaster-management and emergency-response plan.

There should be no ambiguity about whether the facility is legally permissible at this particular location.

The question of public consultation

Amazon says the environmental documents are publicly available on PARIVESH. That is welcome.

But document availability and meaningful public participation are not necessarily the same thing.

The public should therefore be given a complete chronology:

When was the application submitted?

When was the project considered by SEAC?

What observations were made by SEAC?

What changes were required?

What conditions were imposed?

Was a public hearing legally required or exempted?

If exempted, under which provision?

What consultations took place with TMC?

What consultations took place with MPCB?

What consultations took place with affected residents?

What representations were received?

How were those representations addressed?

The answer should be documentary and transparent.

What exactly should now be made public?

The State Government, TMC, MPCB and Amazon should jointly create a single public disclosure dossier containing at least the following:

1. Land and zoning

Every survey/gut number forming part of the project.

Area of each parcel.

Ownership/title details to the extent legally disclosable.

DP zoning of each parcel.

Applicable DCR/DCPR provisions.

Planning permissions.

2. Environmental approvals

Complete EIA.

Environmental Management Plan.

SEAC minutes and recommendations.

SEIAA approval.

All EC conditions.

Compliance reports.

Any amendments or revised submissions.

3. Water

Actual approved daily water requirement.

Separate figures for drinking, sanitation, construction and cooling.

Source of every category of water.

Copy of the TMC water-allocation/order.

Explanation of the reported 12-MDL figure.

STP source and available surplus capacity.

Pipeline DPR and cost.

Whether the arrangement is guaranteed during water shortages.

Actual water-consumption monitoring mechanism.

4. Electricity

Sanctioned load.

Maximum demand.

Dedicated-substation details.

Transmission infrastructure.

Utility agreement.

Phase-wise electricity demand.

Renewable-energy commitments.

5. Backup power

Number and capacity of DG sets.

Diesel storage quantity.

Fuel-supply arrangements.

Emission calculations.

Stack details.

Noise modelling.

Emergency and fire-safety plans.

6. Traffic

Traffic Impact Assessment.

Construction traffic plan.

Heavy-vehicle movement.

Entry and exit points.

Road-capacity assessment.

Emergency access arrangements.

7. Heat and cooling

Cooling technology.

Heat rejection calculations.

Worst-case heat output.

Predicted impact on the surrounding microclimate.

Noise modelling.

Independent verification of the company's claim regarding absence of water-based cooling.

8. Trees and ecology

Number and species of trees removed.

Tree-felling permission.

Location of compensatory plantation.

Number and species of replacement trees.

Survival monitoring.

Any impact assessment concerning nearby Thane Creek and other sensitive ecological areas.

9. Safety

Fire NOC.

Disaster-management plan.

Diesel-storage safety.

Emergency evacuation plan.

Hazardous-material assessment.

Coordination mechanism with Thane Fire Brigade and other emergency agencies.

10. Public infrastructure and concessions

All agreements between Amazon and TMC.

Water and sewerage agreements.

Road or infrastructure arrangements.

Any concessions, rebates, incentives or exemptions granted by the State Government or local authority.

CSR commitments separately from statutory infrastructure obligations.

Development versus environmental protection is a false choice

There is a tendency in public debate to divide people into two camps: those who support development and those who oppose development.

That is a simplistic approach.

Thane needs investment, technology, employment and modern infrastructure.

But Thane also needs water, roads, electricity, open spaces, clean air, environmental protection and a reasonable quality of life.

A responsible government must be capable of delivering both.

Therefore, the demand for disclosure should not be portrayed as opposition to Amazon or to data centres.

It is a demand for responsible development.

Indeed, if Amazon's position is that all statutory requirements have been satisfied, the company has nothing to lose by putting every relevant technical document before the public.

The State Government now has an opportunity

The issue has reached the State Government following the Municipal Commissioner’s report.

This provides an opportunity to end the controversy through facts rather than competing narratives.

The Government need not prejudge the project.

It need not cancel the project merely because citizens have raised objections.

Nor should it simply endorse the project because clearances have already been granted.

It should do something much simpler:

Publish the documents. Verify the discrepancies. Obtain independent technical opinions wherever necessary. Hear the affected citizens. Then take a reasoned decision.

A project of this scale deserves institutional scrutiny equal to its scale.

The citizens' demand is simple

The people of Thane are not asking for secrecy.

They are asking for the opposite.

They want to know exactly what has been approved, under which law, on what land, with what infrastructure, consuming how much water and electricity, generating what emissions and noise, and subject to what safeguards.

Once these questions are answered transparently, the public debate can move from suspicion to evidence.

That would be good for Thane.

It would be good for Maharashtra.

And, ultimately, it would also be good for Amazon.

Approvals are important. But in a project of this magnitude, transparency must be the next approval that citizens receive.

-- Dayanand Nene