Won’t take action against staff over reconciliation of toll, says BMC chief

No action – a show-cause notice or a first information report (FIR) – will be taken against Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials, hospitals, and doctors

No action – a show-cause notice or a first information report (FIR) – will be taken against Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials, hospitals, and doctors over discrepancies in the Covid-19 toll figures, which led to reconciliation, civic chief IS Chahal said on Wednesday.

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A total of 862 deaths were added to Mumbai’s toll on Tuesday, after reconciling the numbers, which Chahal said will be a recurring process over the next one month.

“Of the 862 deaths added to Mumbai’s cumulative Covid-19 deaths on Tuesday after reconciling the figures, 750 were reported to the civic body after June 10. How can I blame my officers? They did not lie. Action will not be taken against hospitals and deans either because the hospitals will collapse. I will not take action against BMC officials,” said Chahal.

On Tuesday, the state added 1,328 deaths to the toll, of which 862 are from Mumbai. The numbers took the city’s toll to 3,167 on Tuesday and pushed up the fatality rate to 5.2% from 3.79%.

The city’s case count was 61,587 and toll 3,244 on Wednesday.

Maharashtra’s leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis demanded action against those responsible, alleging a cover-up.

After the figures were released on Tuesday, he tweeted: “It is my sincere request to the state government that please don’t ignore this entire episode of criminal negligence in the name of reconciliation of numbers.”

“These figures were suppressed for last 3 months. We demand strict action against all those who are responsible for this,” he wrote.

However, Chahal denied any lapses in the process. He said, “It is a statistical lapse. The inward entry for 750 of the 862 deaths at BMC level is after June 10.”

Chahal also said on June 8, BMC told all hospitals to report deaths within 48 hours, following Government of India’s rules. A BMC circular dated June 8 was sent to all municipal and private hospitals, making it mandatory to send all information of deaths within 48 hours to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s epidemiology cell, which uploads it to the Government of India’s portal.