Odisha activist moves HC seeking special audit of Covid-19 deaths

Congress leader and activist Nishikanta Mishra approached the Orissa HC seeking a special audit of the Covid-19 fatalities.

Amid allegations from opposition parties about the state government hiding Covid-19 death data, an activist on Thursday approached the Orissa High Court seeking a special audit of the Covid-19 fatalities in the state, HT has learnt.

Of the 3,508 deaths recorded in Odisha till now, a little more than 1,870 were reported in the first wave till the end of December. (Praful Gangurde / HT Photo)

“There are many irregularities between the Covid fatalities data furnished by the district-level authorities like the CDMO and the state government’s health department statistics. From the figures, it is clear that the Odisha government has tried to suppress the Covid death numbers to protect its image,” Congress leader and activist Nishikanta Mishra said in his petition.

Mishra, in his PIL before the HC, prayed for a special audit of the number of deaths in the state due to Covid-19 infections. He cited news reports and claimed that deaths were being underreported in official statistics.

Of the 3,508 deaths recorded in Odisha till now, a little more than 1,870 were reported in the first wave till the end of December last year. In the second wave, which started in mid-April, there were over 1,600 deaths in just 2 months making it more severe than the first wave.

Mishra, in his petition, said that anecdotal evidence suggested underreporting of Covid-19 related deaths. Though officially the death toll stood at 133 in April, enquiries with various Covid hospitals and district authorities suggested many more people died due to the Covid-19 infection in the state.

Mishra said he visited the Satichoura crematorium in Cuttack on April 25 and found that the workers there were too busy in cremation. Citing an article published in The Hindustan Times on May 6 about the real picture of Covid-19 deaths in the state, Mishra said at least 44 bodies were cremated on a single day there while as per the government report only 3 patients died in Cuttack that day.

Mishra said in western Odisha district of Nuapada, the test positively rate in April was consistently around 35% (which means one out of every three persons tested positive for the infection), the official death toll was just 4. But districts said 82 deaths were reported from the Covid hospitals. He also cited the case of Nayagarh chief district medical officer reporting 97 deaths in the second wave while the state government said only 14 people died.

“In my petition, I have highlighted that despite all tall claims made by the state government, so far only 1.3 crore people have been tested for Covid-19, which is quite less. The situation is worse in rural pockets of the state where Covid testing is almost negligible,” he said.

Last week, Congress in Odisha had accused the ruling-BJD of hiding data about Covid-19 deaths and demanded making the ‘actual data’ public. Congress leader Sudarsan Das said information obtained through RTI showed that around 1,288 bodies were cremated at the Satya Nagar crematorium of Bhubaneswar in September 2020, while the government report said only 342 bodies were cremated.

“During this Covid pandemic, there has been an increase in the number of fatalities due to Coronavirus but the government is hiding the fact. The state government is denying the deaths due to Covid-19 infection,” he alleged.