Google’s $15B India Data Center Draws Protests

Excavators are clearing forest and farmland in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, for Google's $15 billion data centre — its largest outside the United States — on a 600-acre site more than 340 football pitches across. Farmer Chandala Sadamma was paid more than $82,000 for two acres of mango and cashew trees. Facing the red-earth scars, she said, "I feel like crying." Posters cuff Google's logo and say people cannot drink data. Google projects $688 million a year in local economic activity and about 4,200 construction jobs annually over three to five years, with a 2028 target. Andhra Pradesh expects 188,000 direct and indirect jobs. Alexander Smith said, "The watershed, the grid and the communities around our facilities must be better off for our being here." Gubbala Ramanamma, beside a dry well, said "we are already struggling with water scarcity." Gutta Rohith said, "We need mass employment and labour-intensive industries, not high-capital industries." E. Ashok Kumar said land prices rose more than 45 percent since development plans were announced. A Finnish authority ordered a halt on two Google data centre sites pending environmental assessments. The state plans six 1.2-gigawatt nuclear power plants. CONTESTED: Residents and activists warn of water strain and thin job gains; Google cites economic projections and a duty to leave communities better off. No resolution is in the record.