Protesters seek restoration of FCRA registration of Sambhavna Trust working for Bhopal gas victims

Bhopal, An organisation working for the Bhopal gas tragedy victims' welfare on Wednesday launched an indefinite sit-in to demand restoration of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act registration of Sambhavna Trust involved in providing healthcare to the survivors of the disaster. Members of the Union Carbide Poison Victims Healthcare Rights Front launched the protest, stating that the Union Home Ministry should facilitate speedy FCRA registration for the Trust. Sambhavna Trust Clinic that provides free specialised healthcare to the survivors of the Union Carbide disaster was shut on Sunday after its funds dried up due to the delay in the restoration of the FCRA registration, the Front claimed in a statement. Highly toxic methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, killing at least 5,479 people and leaving thousands with serious and long-lasting health issues. It is considered to be among the worst industrial disasters in the world. The sit-in was launched in Bafna Colony, a km from the defunct Union Carbide Factory with the song "We shall overcome". Many survivors registered for long-term care at the clinic run by the Sambhavna Trust participated in the protest. The 14 participants of the sit-in included survivors receiving care at the clinic, members of survivors' organisations and staff members of the clinic. Chandrahas Shukla, a local journalist and patient at the clinic, urged the government to ensure that Sambhavna Trust's gets its registration under the FCRA back without delay so that donations from individual donors from abroad can be received. Speaking at the sit-in, Shukla, a survivor of the Union Carbide disaster, said he visited several government and private hospitals for his health problems, but got cured only after he got treatment at Sambhavna Trust Clinic. Nasreen, a member of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, an organisation of survivors of the tragedy, expressed support to the Healthcare Rights Front on behalf of her organisation. Satinath Sarangi, a consultant of Sambhavna Trust said the 52 staff members rendered jobless due to the closure of the clinic are hopeful of having their demand of early FCRA registration fulfilled because of the active support they are receiving from thousands of survivors.