Bengaluru, Aug 31 (PTI) Senior Congress legislator H K Patil on Monday claimed there was 32 per cent increase in the overall deaths in the city in the first six months of this year compared to the corresponding period last year and sought to know if the government was hiding actual COVID-19 fatalities.

Citing data from the crematoriums and burial grounds in the city, the former minister said a total of 49,135 deaths had been reported here between January and July this year, compared to 37,001 in the same period in 2019.

Also Read | Ganpati Visarjan 2020: Mumbai Police to Deploy 35,000 Personnel Across The City, 5000 CCTVs to be Made Operational.

He sought to know the reasons for the 32 per cent increase in death rate saying the official data showed only 1,886 people had died of Covid-19 between March till date.

"Is the government hiding something...? is this being one out of mal-intention to show less COVID deaths?" he asked.

Also Read | JEE 2020: Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Wishes Good Luck to Students, Says Over 7 Lakh Candidates Downloaded Admit Cards.

Patil also urged the government to constitute a team for a "quick study report" to assess causes for the increase in deaths.

As of August 31 evening, cumulatively 3,42,423 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 5,702 deaths and 2,49,467 discharges.

Bengaluru urban district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 1,29,125 infections. The city has reported 1,965 deaths and 90,043 discharges so far.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)