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.