NGO slams BMC on ‘data correction’

Mumbai: NGO Praja Foundation slammed the Brihanmum-bai Municipal Corporation (BMC), saying that it had provided handwritten data, which it had compiled after asking relevant questions through the Right To Information. It said that rather than wasting time on data correction, the BMC should focus on curbing issues related to public health.

This comes after BMC’s showcause notice to Praja over the publication of wrong data in relation to deaths due to TB, dengue and malnutrition. The BMC has asked for a detailed explanation from Praja for ‘manipulating information’ using the data collected from the BMC through the Right To Information Act. Praja is likely to reply to the BMC letter on Monday.

Praja has also accused BMC corporators for failing to raise health issues. The NGO says between 2012 and 2017, 90 questions were raised by corporators in both health and standing committee meetings to seek a change in the name of a hospital, maternity home or a dispensary instead of discussing issues concerning the biomedical waste, hypertension, diabetes, diarrhoea and vaccination availability in the civic-run hospitals.

Milind Mhaske, project director of Praja Foundation, said, “The BMC had given us handwritten data and we have just complied that data. We had asked questions about the top ten diseases proliferating in the city, the number of people who had died and what particular infection was the reason of their death.”

Meanwhile, chairperson of public health committee of BMC, Rohini Kamble, said, “Praja had procured the data through RTI and we are not saying that the data is wrong, but that to some extent they have manipulated it.”