The proposed Naraj AI data centre project in Odisha has come under scrutiny after former Union minister Srikant Kumar Jena asked the state government to disclose details of the project’s land, power, water, incentives, employment and environmental arrangements.
Jena raised the concerns in a letter to Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi, according to a report by The Times of India. The project was approved by the state’s High-Level Clearance Authority earlier this year, but Jena alleged that key documents linked to the proposal have not been placed in the public domain.
The proposed facility is expected to have a capacity of 1 GW. Jena sought disclosure of the memorandum of understanding, related agreements and detailed minutes of the High-Level Clearance Authority meeting that approved the project. These documents, he said, would help establish the terms under which the project received clearance and the obligations of the government and project proponents.
A central issue raised in the letter is how the facility would meet its electricity and water requirements. Data centres require continuous power for computing equipment, cooling systems and associated operations. Jena questioned the proposed source of electricity for the Naraj facility and asked the state government to explain how its water needs would be met.
The request is significant because the project’s stated capacity would make resource planning a key part of its implementation. The supplied report does not specify the project developer, the proposed location within Naraj, the expected construction schedule, the technology design, the source of water or the power procurement arrangement. It also does not provide details of the project’s projected investment or the number of jobs it is expected to create.
Jena also sought information on the employment potential of the facility. He asked the government to disclose jobs data associated with the project, including the basis on which its economic benefits have been assessed. The demand places the employment case alongside the project’s resource requirements, rather than treating the proposed data centre only as a technology investment.
Environmental approval and disclosure were another focus of the letter. Jena called for an independent environmental impact assessment and urged the government to publish all project-related details. The report does not state whether an environmental impact assessment has already been completed, whether a formal environmental clearance application has been filed or which authority would conduct or oversee such an assessment.
The project’s approval by the High-Level Clearance Authority indicates that it has cleared a major state-level investment review process, but the information reported so far does not establish the full conditions attached to that approval. Details of any incentives, concessions or other support extended to the project also remain undisclosed, according to Jena’s letter.
The Odisha government’s response to the specific questions, including whether the MoU, agreements and clearance minutes will be released, was not included in the supplied report. The next stage of public scrutiny will therefore depend on the government placing the project documents, resource plans, employment estimates and environmental assessment details in the public domain.
