NEW DELHI, May 21:
With its accounts frozen and forced to scale down operations, Greenpeace India today said it has been a “humiliating” year for the organisation and it is not expected from a elected Government to treat “legitimate NGOs” like it in such a manner.
Days after it announced ‘imminent’ shutdown due to Government’s crackdown, the environment NGO said it will continue to run basic functions for another month by scaling back the extent of the campaign to “bare minimum” as it has seen a “surge” in support from civil society, donors and the staff, which has offered to work without pay.
The environment NGO also hoped for a “positive outcome” from the Delhi High Court, which will hear its writ petition challenging the suspension of its FCRA license on May 26.
While the organisation has urged supporters to sign a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to support free speech in India, it said that more than 200 of its staff have written to its executive director Samit Aich promising to work without pay in June while other civil societies have offered logistical support such as space for carrying out operations.
“Over the past few weeks we have seen an incredible surge in support for Greenpeace India. Today my staff sent me a very moving letter in which they promised to work without pay for one month.
“I hope it will not come to this and my staff and their families avoid this hardship. But if necessary, we are able to keep the basic functions of Greenpeace India running until the end of June,” Aich told reporters adding that this will be absolutely “last resort” and the body will have to “scale back the extent of the campaign to the bare minimum”.
“Based on this, we have a plan where we can operate for the month of June. We have to be resilient about it,” he said. (PTI)
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