Greenpeace 'shocked' over govt move

Greenpeace India has followed all laws of the land and is open to any kind of scrutiny.

"But in the absence of any communication from the government the NGO is forced to believe that the government attempting to malign and discredit Greenpeace India in order to proceed smoothly with its pro-corporate agenda," Greenpeace India said in a statement.

Greenpeace India reiterated that they have not received any official communication from the Home Ministry and demanded that the government should immediately respond to its queries.

For the sake of transparency, Greenpeace India will file RTI applications to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Reserve Bank of India seeking details of what triggered the actions against Greenpeace India.

“On June 23, 2014, we had requested for a financial transfer from Greenpeace International, who transferred the money the very next day. Normally it takes three-four days for the funds to transfer into our accounts. However, on June 30, we were denied the money on the grounds that our bank, IDBI had received instructions from the Reserve Bank of India that they would not be able to transfer the money unless they received a go ahead from the MHA. We had read about this move in the newspapers but had received no intimation whatsoever from the government either to review our FCRA compliance or informing us of this move,” said Samit Aich, Executive Director, Greenpeace India. 

“This is completely antithetical to the principles of transparency in a democracy as constantly referred to our Prime Minister himself. It’s a shame that in the world’s largest democracy, people who oppose unfair policies and fight for justice are left with no voice at all,” said Aich.