Fact Check: The video showing the pothole-ridden road is not from Andhra Pradesh
Opposition leader in Andhra Pradesh N Chandrababu Naidu urged the Centre to declare Cyclone Michaung a national disaster. He wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of India that crops worth Rs 10,000 crore in nearly 22 lakh acres were damaged in the aftermath of the cyclone.
Claim :
Video shows potholes in Andhra Pradesh during the tenure of Chief Minister Jaganmohan ReddyFact :
The video has been online since October 2020 and is not from Andhra Pradesh, India
Opposition leader in Andhra Pradesh N Chandrababu Naidu urged the Centre to declare Cyclone Michaung a national disaster. He wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of India that crops worth Rs 10,000 crore in nearly 22 lakh acres were damaged in the aftermath of the cyclone. The opposition leaders convened a meeting to discuss the situation after the cyclone and faulted the central and state governments for failing to provide adequate relief to the cyclone victims.
Meanwhile, a video showing heavy traffic passing through pothole-ridden road is in circulation with the claim that it shows the condition in Andhra Pradesh in Jaganmohan Reddy’s rule. The video is in circulation with caption “హే ప్రభూ హరిరామ్ కృష్ణనాధం జగన్మోహన్ రెడ్డి క్యాహువా #ApRoads #PotatoCm #
Fact Check:
The claim is False. The video does not show pothole-ridden roads in Andhra Pradesh.
When we extracted the keyframes from the video and searched using Google reverse image search, we found older videos published on several social media platforms.
This video was shared on X (Twitter) with a caption in Indonesian which translates to “BEWARE OF HOLE-POLLED ROADS WHEN IT ENTERS THE RAINY SEASON. Potholes on roads are a challenge for motorists. Moreover, if there is a puddle of water on the road during the rainy season, it often covers the potholes, which makes it even more dangerous because the depth cannot be seen or realized. As in this video, a driver doesn't know the condition of the road is damaged. Very dangerous.”
We found a video published on Facebook in July 2020 with the caption “The struggle to drive over20kmph is real #potholes #pothole #
The video was also published by a YouTube channel named Cars Hitting Massive Potholes (#5) in October 2020.
The channel carries various videos showing cars and other vehicles crossing the potholes on the roads. The bio of the channel states that it is based in Hong Kong.
We also found that the video was published on the YouTube channel Cinema TV on July 12, 2020, with the caption “Potholes on Chinese Roads After Heavy Rain”. We can see that the shop billboards in the video are in Chinese language.
Therefore, the video is from the year 2020 and is not from Andhra Pradesh, India. The claim is False.
