An old video of an overloaded goods train carrying petroleum coke colliding with the shed of a railway station in Chhattisgarh is viral with false claims that the goods train belongs to the Adani group and that the footage shows coal pollution during transportation in Goa.
BOOM found that the incident happened at Raigarh station in Chhattisgarh in 2019. The goods train was heading to Katni in Madhya Pradesh from Paradeep port in Chhattisgarh.
The viral clip shows a goods train collide against the shed of a railway station and as a result spill a black soil-like substance on to the platform.
The video is doing the rounds on WhatsApp and Facebook as large scale protests in Goa take place against a rail doubling work which protesters claim is being done to transport coal from the state to neighbouring Karnataka. Three major infrastructure projects are being opposed by residents for fear they will destroy Goa's fragile ecology. The demonstrators are rallying under the banner of 'Goyant Kollso Naka' or 'don't want coal in Goa'. Read here and here.
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The video is viral with a caption which reads: "A sickening view of Adani's disastrous coal pollution during the transportation of coal ....the lives of Goan people along the coal corridor are in complete jeopardy ...Goan Lives Matter ...Stop Adani's Destructive Projects ...Save Goa...."(Sic)
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Fact Check
We analysed the video and found that at the time stamp of 41 second, the station name is clearly visible, i.e. Raigarh, which is not a station in the state of Goa. Although Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh both have a place named Raigarh, the board has 'द.पू.म.रेलवे' (dakshin purv madhya railway) or South East Central Railway written on it. This narrows down to the Raigarh situated in Chhattisgarh.
We ran a reverse image search and found an old Facebook post without a caption. The post was published on December 18, 2019, by a page named 'Rail News Center.'
We then searched with 'train collision Raigad' keywords and found an article published by a Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar on December 19, 2019. According to the report, the goods train was heading towards Katni in Madhya Pradesh from Paradeep port in Chhattisgarh carrying petroleum coke. The article includes the same viral video.
The station master of Raigarh railway station in Chhattisgarh was not immediately reachable for a comment.
BOOM contacted superintendent of police Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, Santosh Singh. "The accident is nearly an year old and from Raigarh. As far as I remember the train belonged to South Eastern Coal Limited and not Adani as Adani's transportation is being done by road and not train."
We also reached out to a spokesperson of the Adani group. "The video showcasing the railway coal movement through Raigarh, Chhattisgarh being circulated across social media, falsely linking the Adani Group to its subject matter," the spokesperson said.
On asking whether the group transport coals in Raigarh region in Chattisgarh by train, the spokesperson said, "no we do not transport it by train."