Bhubaneswar: Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, a lawmaker of Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD), on Thursday sparked a political firestorm in Odisha, with a front-page signed editorial in the state’s leading daily Sambad that accused the government of under-reporting deaths due to Covid and demanding the government issue a white paper on the Covid deaths. Patnaik, the Odia language newspaper’s founder-editor, said the attempt to hide the real figures “had ruined the image of administrative machinery”.
The editor-politician said the data of Covid deaths was manipulated due to a desperate race to be on the top and an attempt to cling onto past glory, remarks that are seen to refer to a tug-of-war in the corridors of power in Bhubaneswar.
“In the present scenario, what the left hand is doing is not known to the right hand of the administration. Whether chief minister Naveen Patnaik is aware of it or not, we do not know for sure,” said Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, who is also the BJD vice-president.
He argued for a white paper on the deaths, adding: “People of the State will love him (Naveen Patnaik) more, if he displays courage by releasing the white paper”.
The opposition promptly latched on, citing the harshly-worded article by the BJD legislator and the newspaper’s founder-editor as evidence to back up its charge that the state government under-reported death figures.
{{/usCountry}}The opposition promptly latched on, citing the harshly-worded article by the BJD legislator and the newspaper’s founder-editor as evidence to back up its charge that the state government under-reported death figures.
{{/usCountry}}BJD leader and government chief whip Pramila Mallick rubbished the charge that the government had concealed Covid-related deaths. “I want to ask those who are pointing fingers at the government to reveal how we are fudging the data,” she said, challenging the government’s critics.
According to data released by Thursday, 4.063 people have lost their lives due to Covid since April last year.
Soumya Ranjan Patnaik cited the Supreme Court’s verdict on Wednesday that asked all deaths of Covid-19 patients within two-three months of testing positive as Covid deaths, widening the definition of what would be considered as Covid deaths.
“A PIL is pending in Orissa High Court in this regard. During this time a controversy has erupted in Odisha about the actual number of Covid deaths due to administrative mistakes. The Naveen Patnaik government is facing embarrassment due to such things,” Patnaik wrote.
A response to a right to information request by activist Pradip Pradhan which said 3,480 bodies were cremated with Covid protocol at one crematorium in Bhubaneswar by the end of December last year is frequently cited by the government’s critics since official data only counts 1,873 Covid deaths across the state till end of December.
Congress leader Suresh Routray said it was courageous of Soumya Ranjan Patnaik to write the piece. “While the truth of Covid deaths is too well known, no BJD leader could muster courage to question the government statistics. Naveen Patnaik should come clean with the figures,” said Routray.
Odisha BJP general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan said around 250 bodies were being cremated everyday at the peak of the Covid second wave in May and June, but the state government stuck to its daily mortality count of 30 to 40.
“By concealing the death numbers, the Odisha government is depriving the families of the victims of the central assistance, and also from the assistance the State had announced for them,” said Harichandan.
The Orissa High Court last week told the state government to submit district wise Covid death figures by July 5.