Sambhavna Trust, a non-profit organisation that provides free medical care to victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, on Saturday stated that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has restored its registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act after five years.

Registration under the Act is mandatory for a non-profit organisation to receive foreign funds. The registration is valid for five years unless it is cancelled prior to this period.

The restoration of the trust’s registration on Friday followed a protest launched over the past few weeks by its members and several survivors receiving treatment, according to The Hindu.

The registration of the non-profit organisation was cancelled in 2019 after it failed to upload an annual report on the Union Home Ministry’s portal, The Indian Express reported.

“In 2019, when the registration was up for renewal, we applied and filed the annual returns,” an unidentified employee of the trust told The Hindu. “But due to glitches in the portal, the returns were not uploaded.”

The employee said that the ministry had subsequently issued a show-cause notice and cancelled the registration. “We pleaded but they did not listen to us,” the employee added.

The non-profit organisation applied for a fresh registration in 2023 under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act after a mandatory wait of three years, said Radhe Lal Napit, another employee of Sambhavna Trust.

“Though we applied in 2023, the application was kept pending,” The Hindu quoted Napit as saying. “After the protests, we got to know today [Friday] that the FCRA [Foreign Contribution Regulation Act] registration has been granted.”

The trust does not accept donations from corporations, the unidentified employee said, adding that it depends on individual donors in 45 countries.

In December 1984, methyl isocyanate and other toxic gases leaked from the pesticide plant of Union Carbide India Limited in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal.

More than five lakh persons were exposed to the toxic gases and at least 4,000 were killed in the following days. Thousands more died due to the effects of the gas leak in subsequent years. Government figures estimate that there have been 15,000 deaths as a result of the disaster over the years.

The restoration of the registration came two days after the shifting of some of the 377 tons of toxic waste from the abandoned Union Carbide factory began, forty years after the gas tragedy.

The hazardous waste was moved in 12 leak-proof and fire-resistant containers 250 kms away to the Pithampur industrial area in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district, where it will be disposed of.