Posted by somu on Jan. 2, 2013, 9:42 p.m.
American seismologist Roger Bilham who has previously visited India many times
to attend workshops and to meet colleagues on a tourist visa is now blacklisted
and is being refused entry in to India.
A year ago he and Vinod Gaur of
the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bangalore wrote a paper in
Current Science (open access) suggesting that there is small probability of
a 6-7 mag earthquake near or at the site of a proposed nuclear power plant at
Jaitapur in southern Maharashtra and that this should be taken in to account in
the design of the plant. The paper was criticized by several Indian
seismologists. The scientific debate has been summarized
by K.S Jayaraman.
This May, Bilham was denied entry into New Delhi
and deported. The reason given was that he was coming for activities not
consistent with his tourist visa status. Bilham suspects that this decision by
the Indian government is due to pressure from a senior Indian seismologist.