Fact Check: Image of an Expressway in China being circulated as Jammu NH-44

A picture of a highway is being shared on social media as netizens claim it shows the National Highway (NH-44) running from Srinagar to Kanyakumari. Facebook users shared the image with the caption, “Jammu & Kashmir National highway 44. I know that you are shocked to see such developments, in our country, that too in J&K.” (View a few posts here and here)

FACT CHECK:

The fact check team performed a reverse image search and found a page called Caixin Global. The photo story published by the page focuses on China’s big plans for highway expansion. On slide 8, the same viral image is captioned as, "The Weiyuan-Wudu Expressway in Northwest China's Gansu province opened to traffic in 2020" indicating that the expressway is located in China. Furthermore, the image is credited to Visual China Group (VCG), a Chinese photo and media agency.

According to an official press release by the Chinese Government, the Longnan section of Weiyuan-Wudu Expressway was opened for trial operations in 2020. An article published in November 2020 stated that the development in transportation would make life easier in the province as the urban space distance along Weiyuan’s would be shortened making transportation more efficient

Taking a cue from this, we searched for similar geographical views on Google Earth and determined that the photograph indeed captures a part of the Weiyuan-Wudu Expressway which passes through the village of Lianghekou in the Gansu province.

Evidently, an unrelated image of a Chinese Expressway is being falsely shared as that of Jammu National Highway-44 in India.