On Monday, May 10, Mumbai’s civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) denied accusations of suppressing COVID-19 death and infection figures.
Moreover, it stated that the number of fatalities being recorded is as per protocols laid down by WHO and ICMR. This comes after Former Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis accused the civic body of under-reporting COVID-19 fatalities and "manipulating" the viral infection rate in the city.
In a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Fadnavis further stated that the BMC was attributing the deaths of some COVID-19 patients to 'other reasons' and thus, suppressing the real toll of the viral infection. Furthermore, he added that the civic body was manipulating the infection rate by relying more on Rapid Antigen Tests.
However, it must be noted that in recent developments, the Supreme Court praised the efforts undertaken by the BMC to battle the COVID-19 situation in Mumbai. This came after last week the Central Government moved the apex court on the Delhi High Court’s contempt warning on the availability of oxygen. While hearing the case, the apex court also asked the government how it planned to meet Delhi’s oxygen demand further adding that it should see the Mumbai model as BMC had performed well in the situation.
On the other hand, in another massive development, Karnataka is now touted to follow the civic body’s footsteps after its success in handling the second wave of the pandemic. In addition, after taking inspiration from BMC, the state has issued directives based on the Mumbai model.
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