Work on Google’s largest-ever India investment—a $15 billion data centre hub in Visakhapatnam—is well underway, but a widening campaign of litigation and street protest is creating early hurdles for the project. On Monday, the Andhra Pradesh High Court asked the state government to defend itself against a public interest petition filed by the activist group Jal Biradari, which alleges the development will stress a nearby reservoir and worsen water scarcity in a city of 2.5 million people. The court will next hear the matter on 24 August. Three additional cases have been lodged with India’s environmental court by the Human Rights Forum, demanding a halt on the grounds that the state cleared the project without properly assessing the impact of drawing supply from a rural drinking-water scheme.

The opposition crystallises around two main grievances. First, Visakhapatnam already receives 410 million litres of water a day against a requirement of 480 million, according to government figures, and rationing is common. Activists from the non-profit Green Visakha, who held a public gathering on Sunday to plan door-to-door campaigns and beach protests, argue that a 20-year guarantee of water supply to the data centre will shift the burden of shortages onto residents. “Development should not be at the cost of livelihood of the people,” the group’s founder, Raja Rama Mohan Roy, told the meeting. Second, the Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary, home to leopards and pangolins, lies just 860 metres from the site, raising concerns about construction noise and disturbance. The state government says the distance exceeds the legal minimum, and Google has pledged to implement sound-dampening measures and “advanced air cooling to protect vital local water resources.”

The state, governed by an ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has called the project historic, has dismissed the activists’ claims as incorrect and misleading but says it is open to feedback and redressal. Google, which has partnered with Gautam Adani’s group to build the facility, says it will comply with all applicable laws. The project is projected to create up to 188,000 jobs and sits at the centre of the Visakhapatnam Economic Region, where the Chief Minister has directed officials to prepare micro-level development plans and attract nearly ₹9.5 lakh crore in investment.

The next factual milestone is the High Court hearing on 24 August, which will test whether the state’s assurances can withstand judicial scrutiny. In the meantime, activists plan to escalate their visibility with beach protests and awareness drives, signalling that the contest over the data centre’s resource footprint is only beginning.