Thane: Thane municipal commissioner Saurabh Rao on Thursday referred residents’ objections to the proposed Amazon data centre at Balkum to the state govt, saying the issue was beyond the corporation’s jurisdiction, members of citizens’ group Wake Up Thanekar said after a meeting with the civic chief.The meeting at the TMC headquarters was attended by members of the residents’ group and representatives of Amazon Data Services India, which is developing the centre on a 53-acre plot. The project, estimated to be worth around Rs 47,000 crore, is expected to be among the largest and first data centre facilities in the Metropolitan Region.According to the group, Amazon officials gave a detailed presentation but failed to satisfactorily address key technical and environmental concerns.“Our main question was why such a large data centre is being built in the middle of a densely populated residential area,” said activist Dayanand Nene. “We sought answers on issues such as heat generation, noise from nearly 190 diesel generator sets, exhaust emissions and other environmental impacts, but did not get satisfactory responses.”The group also claimed the company could not clearly explain the project’s water requirement or safety measures for storing the large quantities of diesel needed to operate the backup generators, raising concerns over potential risks to nearby residential areas.It is learnt that while Amazon maintained that it had obtained all statutory approvals for the project, there was no consensus emerging following which Rao said the issue was beyond the civic body’s jurisdiction.“The commissioner informed us the matter would be referred to the state and assured of a meeting with the Principal Secretary (Industries),” Nene said.The project has drawn opposition from residents and political parties, who questioned its location as the site is surrounded by eight housing complexes, five schools and three hospitals within a one-kilometre radius. The group argued that globally large data centres were typically located away from residential areas because of concerns over noise, emissions and other environmental impacts.Commissioner Rao’s response was awaited at the time of going to press.
