The ministry of home affairs has asked Barc director Srikumar Banerjee to explain how the journalists were allowed to photograph the facility during their visit. Was formal permission granted for filming, the ministry has asked, official sources said.
In his reply, Mr Banerjee has reportedly said formal permission was neither sought nor granted but explained that the journalists were allowed to take photographs only from the outside and that they were accompanied at all times by Barc security officials. Mr Banerjee has explained that photographs of the building are easily available on the Internet and that the scribes clicked only the external view of the reactor building. This explanation does not seem to have satisfied the ministry, nor is Mr Banerjee’s contention that the authorities should not be overly sensitive about commonly available photographs, the sources said.
Efforts to seek reactions from Mr Banerjee did not succeed as he refused to comment on the issue.
Government security agencies have been concerned over the vulnerability of Barc after it was listed as a possible target of the Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.
—PTI