The passport of Greenpeace campaigner Priya Pillai showing visa & stamp.

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ग्रीनपीस वर्कर को फ्लाइट में जाने से रोका गया

NEW DELHI: A senior campaigner with Greenpeace India , an environmental NGO , was allegedly stopped at IGI Airport from boarding a flight to London on Sunday. Priya Pillai , who works on climate and energy and on rights of tribal people in Mahan in Madhya Pradesh, was stopped at the immigration counter despite having a valid visa. Her passport was stamped with “offloaded.”She was asked to wait at the airport for three hours after which she was allegedly told that her name was on a list of people prepared by the government who cannot be allowed to travel abroad. Pillai said she has a business visa to travel to the UK valid for the next six months.Pillai was to take Air India 115 to London at 6.50am on Sunday. She told TOI that she was travelling to meet members from the All Party Parliamentary Groups of the UK parliament. “On January 14, I was scheduled to meet a group on tribal affairs and another on Indo-British relations. I was to talk on the Mahan coal block issue and its impact on tribals. I wanted to discuss Essar’s role in displacement and environmental degradation in Mahan with the parliamentary groups. This is nothing but a crackdown on voices of dissent,” she said.The immigration officials allegedly told they are just following government orders. “Has working for marginalized people become an offence in India?” Pillai asked.Greenpeace India in a statement claimed that this is the second time an employee are been denied a go-ahead by Indian airport authorities despite a valid visa. In September last year, Greenpeace campaigner Ben Hargreaves, a UK national, was reportedly refused entry to India.Greenpeace India has written to MEA and Airport Authority of India about barring Pillai and has asked the government to explain the legal basis for the ban on her leaving the country.The home ministry had recently directed RBI to stop flow of funds to four NGOs funded by American bodies. The government has already put Greenpeace International and Climate Works Foundation under scanner and made it mandatory for them to take permission from MHA before bringing any foreign funds in India.This directive came after a leaked IB report in June last year alleging that protests against development projects were being fuelled by few foreign NGOs that caused a presumptive “loss of 2-3% to India’s GDP.”While the home ministry did not comment on the issue, a senior intelligence official said a lookout circular had been issued against Pillai given her active association with Greenpeace India. “She was to talk about the campaign of a blacklisted organization, which was not seen as appropriate. A lookout circular was issued against her making it mandatory for immigration authorities to restrain her from boarding the flight to UK,” said the officer.