The Asian Age: Mumbai: Monday, July 17, 2017.
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.”