ED 'crackdown' will not stop our fight against climate change: Greenpeace India

Environment NGO Greenpeace India is closing its offices in some cities and shrinking in size because of Enforcement Directorate's "crackdown", the organisation said, adding it will continue its fight against climate change with a renewed zeal.

The NGO's regional offices in Delhi and Patna are being shut but the staff in these cities has joined in to declare their commitment to the cause as volunteers, it said in a statement.

"Due to the freezing of our accounts by the ED, we are not able to afford the staff. Some will be retained as employees while some will be retained as volunteers," a source in the NGO said on the condition of anonymity.

The NGO's campaign director Diya Deb said that Greenpeace will not stop working on the urgent issues of climate change as it is a collective endeavour of activists and volunteers across the country.

"The crackdown is not going to stop Greenpeacers across India from doing their real work - to work on urgent issues of climate change. Indians donate to Greenpeace India because they believe in their right to clean air, right to safe food and clean energy," Deb said.

She said the organisation is the collective voice of thousands of Indian donors, activists and volunteers. "Their spirit and optimism will reflect in the coming days, as many of them now continue to work as volunteers," she said.

Referring to its recent report - Airpocalypse III - highlighting the state of air quality across the country, Deb said the NGO will keep on pushing the government for better policies.

"We are going to keep pushing the government and authorities for better policies. The report highlights the state of air quality across Indian cities and we will continue the discourse on public health through our clean air work," she said.

The statement said that Greenpeace is symbolic of a rainbow of hope, which is a hope for a clean, green and a healthy planet for the generations to come.

"And you cannot sink a rainbow," the NGO's statement said.

The ED had last year frozen over a dozen bank accounts of Greenpeace and its linked entity after it conducted searches at their premises in Bengaluru on charges of alleged forex violations, officials said Thursday.

The NGO had strongly denied all allegations against it.