Vadodara: The budget booklet of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) sparked a major debate regarding Covid-19 data. In the booklet, to highlight the work done by the fire department it has been stated that 1,600 calls of Covid-19 body disposals were handled by the department — a figure much higher than the official data.
The same booklet, however, while mentioning work done by the health department states that 236 persons had died due to Covid-19 including 99 Covid deaths and 137 non-Covid deaths. The figures of both departments are part of the draft of the commissioner’s statement on the budget.
The VMC budget was presented on March 15 and the budget speech, as well as other material, is typically prepared a few days in advance and usually finalised on the budget eve. On March 31, the death toll as per official figures had climbed up to 250. This was still much lesser than the figures of bodies handled by the fire department as per the budget.
The issue was raised by Congress corporator Pushpa Waghela in her speech in the budget meeting held online this time around. Other members of the opposition also raised the issue and questioned the data being shared by VMC.
Congress corporator Ami Rawat said in her speech that functionaries had admitted to her that there was community spread of Covid-19. She added that if a person tested positive at a primary health centre, he was given medicines and sent back home.
“At times the condition of such a person worsens and he has to be hospitalised,” she said. She added that it had also come to light that if the house of such people did not have facilities for isolation, entire families were turning positive.
“People are living in a false sense of security due to the false figures disclosed by us. If we disclosed the real situation, we may even get more help,” Ravat said adding that her information suggested that 1,500 to2,000 persons were testing positive every day. She demanded that the data should be shared online daily.
Sources, however, said that the calls mentioned by the fire brigade would also include bodies of persons from outside the Vadodara district. Also, the bodies of suspected Covid cases are disposed of as per protocols and would have been accounted for by the fire officials.