NGOs unhappy with ICMR centre work on Bhopal victims

Jan 23, 2013 - LALIT SHASTRI |

Age Correspondent

Representatives of five organisations working among the survivors of the Union Carbide gas disaster on Tuesday criticised the working of National Institute for Research in Environmental Health (NIREH) and said the performance of this organisation has been woefully short of meeting the target of benefiting the victims of the 1984 gas disaster.

Addressing a press conference here, representatives of five NGOs working for the gas victims said that NIREH was established as the 31st centre of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on October 11, 2010 with the primary objective of carrying out research to benefit the survivors of the disaster. In the last two years, the centre has published just one manual for treatment of mental illnesses. During this period, less than 200 survivors have received treatment for chronic respiratory diseases and eye problems.
Based on documents obtained through the RTI Act the organisations said that NIREH has spent more than `8 crores in the last two years and has imported around 30 equipment from USA, Germany, Japan and other countries. Only two of these have been put to use. The organisations said that of the five Bhopal-based consultants employed by the NIREH, three have full-time jobs and their duty hours at their places of full-time employment clash with their duty hours as part-time consultants at the NIREH.

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