Visakhapatnam: Six-Year-Old Dies After School Assault as City Eyes Historic AI Data Centre Investment
A six-year-old boy died in Visakhapatnam after allegedly being struck by his teacher for unfinished homework, a tragedy captured on CCTV that has put the city's schools under fresh scrutiny. On the same day, Visakhapatnam found itself at the centre of Andhra Pradesh's most ambitious technology announcement in years: a Rs 31,387 crore green AI data centre project approved for the district, drawing both celebration from the state government and sharp questions from the opposition YSRCP about whether the city's water and power grid can actually support it.
Six-Year-Old Dies After Teacher Allegedly Slaps Him Over Homework; CCTV Records Incident
A six-year-old boy collapsed at his school in Visakhapatnam on or around August 24 and later died, in circumstances that have shocked the city and drawn police attention. Brut reported that the child fell ill after his teacher allegedly struck him for failing to complete homework. CCTV footage from inside the school is said to have captured the sequence of events, providing investigators with visual evidence of what occurred before the boy's collapse. Police are treating the case as a potential criminal matter and have opened an investigation into whether the teacher's actions directly contributed to the child's death. The incident has reignited long-running concerns about corporal punishment in Indian schools, which remains formally prohibited but continues to be reported in classrooms across the country, including in Andhra Pradesh. Child rights advocates have called for immediate action against the teacher and for a thorough review of disciplinary practices at the school. The case is being closely followed by parents and educators across Visakhapatnam, and local authorities have been urged to take protective measures for students and ensure complete accountability in the inquiry. [2]
🏢 Andhra Pradesh Approves Rs 31,387 Crore Green AI Data Centre for Visakhapatnam in Major Tech Push
The Andhra Pradesh government has formally approved AM AI Factory Pvt Ltd's proposal to build a 512-megawatt green integrated artificial intelligence data centre in Visakhapatnam district, ET Datacenters reported on August 23. The facility is to be developed at Amanam village in Bheemunipatnam mandal, with the state government committing to provide power infrastructure, water supply, and a package of fiscal incentives including tax exemptions. The project's total investment is stated at over Rs 31,387 crore, making it one of the largest single technology infrastructure investments in the history of Andhra Pradesh. IT Secretary Bhaskar Katamneni said the facility is expected to create employment for up to 1,000 people, with a completion timeline of two years and four months. The approval signals the state's intention to position Visakhapatnam as a major node in India's emerging AI compute infrastructure. The facility's 512-MW capacity, if fully realised, would place it among the largest data centre campuses in the country. The green designation refers to the project's stated commitment to renewable energy sourcing, a condition that state officials say the developer will be expected to meet. The investment is part of a broader wave of data centre announcements in coastal Andhra Pradesh as the state government actively courts technology capital. [10]
🗳️ YSRCP Challenges State Government to Prove Visakhapatnam Can Handle Data Centre Power and Water Demands
The opposition YSR Congress Party did not let the Andhra Pradesh government's data centre approvals pass without scrutiny. ANI reported on August 23 that former minister and YSRCP leader Gudivada Amarnath raised pointed questions about whether Visakhapatnam's existing infrastructure is capable of meeting the enormous water and power demands that multiple large-scale data centres would generate. Amarnath demanded that the state government publish a concrete blueprint showing how the city's electricity grid and water supply networks would be expanded or reinforced to sustain these facilities. The concern is not merely technical but political: the state government has been announcing major investments in Visakhapatnam at a rapid pace, and the YSRCP is pressing it to demonstrate that the approvals are backed by a workable delivery plan rather than being declaratory in nature. Data centres of the scale now being approved in the Visakhapatnam region are known to be among the most power-intensive facilities in any economy, and their water cooling requirements can place significant strain on municipal supply systems. The opposition's challenge puts pressure on the ruling alliance to move quickly from announcement to ground-level infrastructure commitment if the projects are to retain credibility with residents and investors alike. [6]
🏢 Natco Pharma Receives Four USFDA Observations at Visakhapatnam Plant, Shares Hold Steady
Natco Pharma Ltd disclosed that its Finished Dosage Formulations manufacturing plant in Visakhapatnam received four observations from the US Food and Drug Administration under Form 483 following an inspection conducted from August 17 to 21, 2026. Univest reported on August 24 that the company characterised all four observations as procedural in nature, signalling that it does not regard them as fundamental findings about product quality or manufacturing integrity. Markets appeared to agree with that assessment: Natco Pharma's share price rose 0.36 percent to Rs 885.70 during the session, reaching an intraday high of Rs 892.40, suggesting investors were not rattled by the disclosures. Form 483 inspectional observations are issued by the USFDA when investigators identify conditions that may constitute violations of FDA regulations, and companies are typically given an opportunity to respond before the agency decides whether further regulatory action is warranted. Natco Pharma, which is headquartered in Hyderabad and maintains significant manufacturing operations in Visakhapatnam, is a major supplier of generic medicines to the United States market. The modest and positive share price movement despite the regulatory disclosure reflects the market's reading that the company's FDA relationship remains fundamentally sound, and that the procedural classification of the observations is likely to hold. [9]
Sources: [2] Brut · [10] ET Datacenters · [6] ANI News · [9] Univest