Roger Bilham

New Delhi, Dec. 11: An American seismologist highly-rated in geological circles but labelled by some as a “scaremongerer” has said that the Indian government has, under the influence of a senior Indian scientist, banned his visits to the country.

Roger Bilham, a University of Colorado geophysicist, who was sent back from New Delhi airport on May 19 this year while in transit to Bhutan, has said he learnt — again — last week that he is still on a list of foreigners not permitted to enter India.

Sections of Indian scientists familiar with Bilham’s research say his studies on earthquake hazards in the subcontinent have generated controversy in India, but say they are surprised at the government’s decision to debar him from visiting the country.

Bilham and a collaborating Bangalore-based geophysicist, Vinod Gaur, have suggested that Indian authorities may have underestimated the seismic risk at the site of a proposed nuclear power station in Jaitapur, Maharashtra.

In the past, Bilham has predicted that the Himalayan region is ripe for several giant earthquakes greater than magnitude 8, and any one of them could kill more than a million people in the densely-populated and urbanised Gangetic plains.

“It’s unfortunate if he has been barred entry because of his scientific views,” said Ram Iyengar, an earthquake engineering expert in Bangalore.

“Differences of opinion in science must be allowed, indeed encouraged — that is the way science advances,” Iyengar told The Telegraph.

Bilham first learnt that he was on a list of unwanted foreigners on the night of May 19 when he was sent back from New Delhi airport while he was trying to reach Bhutan for a research visit.

Bilham said that on May 21 he wrote to the US state department, which informed him a day later that it had learnt he was on a list of individuals not permitted to visit India.

“They were not told why I was on the list. I enquired again last week because I was planning to visit Delhi to study historical archives,” Bilham told The Telegraph via email. “They confirmed that I was still on the prohibited list.”

Indian home ministry officials have not responded to email queries from The Telegraph, seeking information about the circumstances under which the government had decided to keep Bilham out of India.

But Indian scientists say they are intrigued by the claim made by Bilham in writing to the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore that the government appears to have been influenced by a senior Indian seismologist.

“The government decision was presumably based on recommendations made by one or more influential seismologists in India,” Bilham wrote to the IISc on October 17 this year, in a letter where he declined to evaluate a PhD thesis of a young scholar.

The IISc had requested Bilham to assist in the evaluation process by reading the thesis and commenting on it.

“It has been brought to my attention that some younger colleagues have been intimidated by a retired [Indian] seismologist who once held a position in Hyderabad, from working with me, or being associated with scientific studies, or discussions. The intimidation takes the form of suggestions that future funding, or chances of promotion, or job security, may be placed in jeopardy if these young scientists are in any way associated with my name,” Bilham wrote.

He told the IISc that his presence on the thesis panel might be detrimental to the future of the young scholar.

A senior Indian geophysicist who knows Bilham well said his research and style of making presentations in India may have irked sections of scientists. “I myself have had a good working relationship with him, but he’s regarded by some as a scaremongerer,” Bal Krishna Rastogi, director of the Institute of Seismological Research in Ahmedabad, told The Telegraph. “It’s not nice for scientists to come here and say we’re not doing anything. Whatever is lacking in efforts here could be because of resources.”