Anger is building in Thane. On Saturday, several hundred residents of the Balkum area marched against a proposed Amazon data centre, warning it could bring serious environmental and health harm to their crowded neighbourhood.
The protest, led by the citizen group “Wake Up Thanekar,” is the latest flashpoint in a growing fight between one of the world’s biggest cloud companies and the families living next to its planned site. Here’s what’s happening.
Residents Cite Water, Noise, And Heat
The demonstration drew people from Balkum, Kolshet, and Dhokali, all objecting to the facility planned on a 53-acre plot, according to a PTI report.
The residents’ main concerns:
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Water use: they claim the centre would need at least 12 million litres per day
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Noise: continuous sound of up to 90 decibels
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Heat: local temperatures pushed up by 3 to 5 degrees Celsius
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Power: heavy, “unlimited” electricity demand
The location is the heart of the worry. Residents point out that more than eight large housing complexes, five schools, and three hospitals, including a children’s hospital, sit within one kilometre of the site. They argue the noise alone poses a real health risk to pregnant women, children, and senior citizens.
The group also says it was kept in the dark. Wake Up Thanekar describes itself as a non-political NGO with members across party lines, and it launched after accusing the Thane Municipal Corporation of pushing major projects through without public transparency.
Amazon Pushes Back
Amazon Web Services has rejected the core claims and released a detailed set of “myth-busters” to calm the growing anger.
The company’s key responses:
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It does not use potable water for cooling at its Indian data centres, so it says the project won’t take drinking water from the community
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All tree felling on site follows a valid permit from the Thane Municipal Corporation
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It stresses its commitment to water conservation, power grid independence, and permitted green restoration
A delegation from Wake Up Thanekar met the Thane municipal commissioner and Amazon representatives on Thursday. Protesters say the meeting produced no satisfactory answers, and residents have now asked the chief minister to review the project.
Here’s the background. Amazon bought the Balkum land, formerly home to Colorchem, from the Kalpataru Group in late 2022 for roughly Rs 1,800 crore, planning a hyperscale data centre to expand AWS in the Mumbai region. The campaign has drawn political weight too, with NCP (SP) leaders backing the residents.
You can see footage from the protest here:
https://x.com/ians_india/status/1946322044544430402
With Thursday’s talks failing, the standoff looks set to drag on. And it fits a much bigger pattern playing out worldwide, from South Korea to Louisiana: as AI drives a data-centre building boom, the fight over water, power, and land is landing squarely in local neighbourhoods. Thane is now part of that story.
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