Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
Political campaigns are in full swing in Uttar Pradesh with assembly elections just weeks away. The incumbent-BJP with its ‘soch imandar, kaam damdar’ campaign is relying on various developmental projects to retain power in the state. Amid election campaigns and promotions, social media users have shared an image claiming to show the construction site of Kandla Gorakhpur Gas Pipeline in Uttar Pradesh. Newschecker has found out that the image is actually from Germany.
Twitter and Facebook have shared the image claiming that it shows the construction of the Kandla Gorakhpur Gas Pipeline which is being dubbed as the longest LPG pipeline in the world.
About Kandla Gorakhpur Gas Pipeline
The Kandla-Gorakhpur LPG pipeline project is being undertaken by IHB limited- a joint venture company of IndianOil, BPCL and HPCL- and is claimed to be the ‘Longest LPG pipeline in the world conceived so far.’ According to the official website of the IHB limited, the 2,805 km gas pipeline is being constructed at a budget of Rs 10088 crore. It would be directly linked with 22 LPG bottling plants, 3 in Gujarat, 6 in Madhya Pradesh and 13 in Uttar Pradesh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the Kandla-Gorakhpur LPG Pipeline in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur on February 24, 2019.
This is not the first time that unrelated projects are passed off as that of Uttar Pradesh. In November 2021,several ministers and the BJP leaders shared an image of Daxing Airport in Beijing as the model of Noida International Airport in Uttar Pradesh’s Jewar after PM Modi laid the foundation stone for the project. Read our fact check here.
Fact Check/Verification
Newchecker conducted a Google reverse image search for the image being shared as the construction site of the Kandla Gorakhpur Gas Pipeline. We found the same image in an article published by WYPR titled ‘Purchase of Utility Would Spark Natural Gas Pipeline Boom in Maryland.’ The report was published on February 28, 2018. However, PM Modi had laid the foundation stone of the pipeline only in 2019.
We also came across a report by The New York Times, dated April 8, 2010, titled ‘Construction of Continuous Nord Stream Gas Line To Begin.’ The NYT report featured the image, which is being passed off on the internet as the construction site of a gas pipeline in Uttar Pradesh, with a caption ‘Cranes lower a section of pipe into the ground near Lubmin, Germany.’ The image was credited to Sean Gallup/Getty Images.
Newschecker then searched for keywords ‘Cranes lower a section of pipe into the ground near Lubmin, Germany’ on the official website of Getty Images and found the viral image.
According to Getty Images, the image was originally taken on April 8, 2010 near Lubmin, Germany by Sean Gallup and is titled ‘OPAL Pipeline To Connect To Baltic Sea.’
The description of the image read, “A worker shouts commands as cranes lower a section of pipe into the ground for the OPAL pipeline on April 8, 2010 near Lubmin, Germany. The OPAL and NEL pipelines will carry natural gas from Russia arriving through the Nord Stream pipeline from the Baltic Sea across Germany and to other countries in Europe. The Nord Stream project delivers Russian natural gas directly to western Europe and avoids countries in between, such as Poland and Ukraine.”
Conclusion
The image shared on social media claiming to show the construction site of Kandla Gorakhpur Gas Pipeline is actually from Lubmin, Germany. The viral claim is misleading.
Result: Misleading Content/Partly False
Sources
NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/09/business/energy-environment/09nordstream.html
Getty Images
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Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
