Overcrowded train with migrants from Maharashtra to West Bengal? PIB fact checks

New Delhi: Since the outbreak of coronavirus COVID-19 and the nationwide lockwide imposed in India to curb the spread of the deadly pathogen, there has been several fake news articles, viral stories, photos and videos on circulating on social media platforms.

One such viral news is the picture of a crowded train which is claimed to be a Shramik train carrying migrant workers from Maharashtra all the way to West Bengal. The image shows a heavily crowded train on the railway tracks.

The Press Information Bureau (PIB) busted the news on microblogging site Twitter calling it fake. The tweet read: "Claim - video of an overcrowded train is circulating on social media with a message claiming it is Shramik Special train carrying migrants from Mumbai to West Bengal. #PIBFactCheck- It's an old video of an overcrowded train in Bangladesh from the year 2018. The video is #Fake."

Claim - video of an overcrowded train is circulating on social media with a message claiming it is Shramik Special train carrying migrants from Mumbai to West Bengal#PIBFactCheck- It's an old video of an overcrowded train in Bangladesh from the year 2018. The video is #Fake. pic.twitter.com/LEKlFUkFjf — PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) May 17, 2020

A few days ago, another news had gained a lot of momentum about the Union government preparing a three-week, 5-phase 'roadmap' to ease coronavirus restrictions in the country. But PIB dispelled the myth and informed that there is no truth in this claim. It was clarified that the message circulating on WhatsApp was fake and not made by Indian government.

It may be recalled that the PIB has set up a dedicated unit in order to check the spread of fake news on social media during the coronavirus crisis, ‘PIBFactCheck’ team continuously monitors trending messages on social media platforms and conducts review of its contents to bust fake news.