Bhubaneswar: An RTI query filed with the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has revealed that the civic body reported 247 Covid fatalities between June and September while it released death certificates against 3,163 people in the same period.
Responding to an RTI query by Pradip Pradhan, the BMC health office said it had issued 5,498 death certificates between January and September. However, the unlocking from June 1 saw the civic body release 801 death certificates in the same month while recording only four deaths.
Moreover, the unprecedented surge between September and October saw only 127 deaths. While 53 were recorded in September, nearly 75 deaths were reported in October, the year’s highest. However, the civic body issued 1,096 death certificates in September alone which was the highest in the entire year.
“Hundreds had died under COVID treatment in hospitals every day across the state mostly from June to October. However, the government limited the official declaration of COVID deaths between 12 and 17 or even less per day. The state government was suppressing the death figure which is evident from the fact that new crematoriums are being now made across Odisha,” Pradip alleged.
Pradip’s word could be corroborated from the fact that the Satya Nagar crematorium cremated 4,473 bodies as stated in the RTI response.
However, sources at the BMC mentioned that about 5,500 bodies were burnt last year. While less than 90 bodies had been reported for cremation before March, the number rose to about 100 bodies being burned on a daily basis. While 955 bodies were cremated in October, 1,288 bodies came to the crematorium in September.
“The number of bodies that was cremated at Satya Nagar went up as the Puri administration had closed Swargadwar to outsiders. As a result the burden on Satya Nagar crematorium went up. Moreover, issuing a high number of death certificates is not unusual as we have issued about 800 death certificates in a month before Covid,” said a BMC official.