Bhopal Gas Victims start indefinite sit-in for FCRA registration of Sambhavna Trust by the Home Ministry
Senior Correspondent
NewsBits.in
BHOPAL: Members of the Union Carbide Poison Victims Healthcare Rights Front started their indefinite sit-in today demanding early FCRA registration of the Sambhavna Trust by the Home Ministry.
The Sambhavna Trust Clinic that provides free specialized healthcare to the survivors of the Union Carbide disaster is closed from today after 28 years due to lack of funds caused by delay in FCRA registration.
The survivors include those affected by the poisonous methyl iso-cyanate (MiC) gas on the night of December 2-3,1984, their next generations as well as those affected by the soil and air contaminated by the toxic waste of the abandoned Union Carbide factory.
The sit-in began with the song “We shall overcome”. Hundreds of 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’ organizations and staff members of the Clinic.
Chandrahas Shukla, a journalist and a patient at the Clinic urged the government to ensure that Sambhavna Trust is registered under FCRA without delay so that donations from individual donors from abroad can reach the Trust.
Speaking at the sit-in, Ravishankar Tiwari a survivor of the Union Carbide disaster said he visited several government and private hospitals for his health problems but he got cured only after he took treatment at Sambhavna Trust Clinic.
Nasreen, a member of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, an organization of survivors of the disaster expressed support to the Healthcare Rights Front on behalf of her organization.
Satinath Sarangi, a consultant of Sambhavna Trust said that 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.
