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| - Fact Check: Highway pic from Thailand FALSELY shared as newly built Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Mahamarg
A picture of a highway from Thailand was falsely shared as the newly built Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Mahamarg.
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India Today Fact Check
This photo is at least three years old and from Bangkok, Thailand. Not Maharashtra.
In a drive to boost roadway connectivity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the first phase of the Samruddhi Mahamarg or the Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication Expressway on December 11. Reportedly, of the 701-km-long stretch of highway, 520 km has already been constructed. The remaining 181 km stretch will be ready by 2024.
Following the announcement of the inaugural day, several people on social media shared a postcard that contained what appears to be an aerial view of interconnected highways. They claimed that this photo showed the aforementioned expressway.
The postcard also featured a photo of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis alongside text that mentioned that the project had begun when he was the chief minister of the state between 2014 and 2019.
A local e-newspaper called Nagpur Today also used the same photo in a news report about the expressway.
AFWA's investigation found that the photo of the roads is not from India but from Bangkok, Thailand.
AFWA Probe
Upon reverse-searching the viral image on Google, we came across a similar aerial shot used in a three-year-old Mumbai Live report. It mentioned that the work for the then "proposed" Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway, was delayed due to concerns over land acquisition.
This makes it quite clear that the image existed on the web even before the completion of the stretch that is supposed to be inaugurated on Sunday, December 11.
Where is the photo from?
When we reverse-searched the photo we found on Mumbai Live, the results contained a similar aerial view of a highway on Shutterstock. The caption mentioned that it was from Thailand. Though it did not mention any other details.
A comparison between the viral photo and the Shutterstock photo highlights several similarities, especially the pattern of the bushes, a small waterbody on the left, and the dividers between the highways.
We also found a bird’s-eye-view timelapse video capturing the movement of vehicles from a different angle on Shutterstock. The caption here read, "Time-lapse aerial view above of circus road traffic cars in Bangkok, Thailand." Another comparison of a screenshot from the timelapse with the viral image makes it evident that both roadways are the same.
We also looked for verified footage of the newly built Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway and came across multiple news reports by ABP Majha and BBC Marathi. Both videos can be seen below.
Although we could not pinpoint the location of the highway seen in the viral image, it is safe to conclude that it is from Bangkok, Thailand — and not Maharashtra.
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