New Delhi: A member of Greenpeace’s international staff, Aaron Gray-Block, was reportedly denied entry into India on Saturday desipte having a valid business visa, reports said..
According to the news report, Gray-Block wasn’t given any reason by the immigration officials for being refused entry into India. Gary-Block was not even deported back officially, according to the report.
Programme Director, Greenpeace India Divya Raghunandan was quoted in report as, “Our colleague has a valid business visa and yet he was prevented from entering India with no reason given…There is absolutely no reason why one of its staff members should be treated in such an arbitrary way, and we expect the Ministry of Home Affairs to offer a full explanation. We are forced to wonder if all international staff of Greenpeace will now be prevented from entering the country? If the Home Minister Rajnath Singh has a stand on this, then we would like him to state it clearly.”
Greenpeace is in news yet again after Greenpeace India’s senior campaigner Priya Pillai was allegedly barred from boarding a flight to London in January 2015.
Pillai was scheduled to address British MPs on her experiences with local communities in Mahan, Madhya Pradesh, where a proposed coal mining project threatens to uproot their lives.
In a statement, Greenpeace claimed the Mahan coal block allocation was cancelled by the Supreme Court. Pillai maintained that the government was deliberately targeting Greenpeace as it did not want to give space to dissent.
In April 2015, the government had earlier blocked foreign fundings to Greenpeace Indiawith immediate effect by suspending its licence for six months and served a notice to the NGO asking why its registration should not be cancelled.
The decision was taken by the Home Ministry after it was found that the NGO has “prejudicially affected the public interests and economic interests of the country in violation” of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. The foreign fundings to Greenpeace India have been blocked by suspending the NGO’s licence for 180 days, it said.
But in May 2015, in a relief to Greenpeace India, the Delhi High Court allowed it to use two of its accounts for the purpose of receiving and utilising fresh domestic donations for its day-to-day functioning, telling the government it cannot choke them of their funds.
