According to sources Renowned US geophysicist Roger Bilham, who was denied a visa to attend a International workshop on climate change and extreme events in the Himalayan region last month, will receive the document the next time he applies it, the California based convener of the event has said.
Reportedly “He got a phone call from the Ministry of Home Affairs saying his case is now cleared and that he will get the visa next time he applied,” workshop convener Ramesh Singh of Chapman University in California, who took up the visa issue with India’s Home Ministry, told this correspondent on the phone. Bilham welcomed the move.
Bilham said “He always believed that banning Roger Bilham was a very bad move by the Indian government and went against the fundamental right of free expression,” said Chittenipattu Rajendran, a leading seismologist at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bengaluru. “He is extremely happy the ban has been revoked and I am looking forward to interacting with him.”