The viral image of a severely waterlogged street is from Bangladesh not Kolkata as claimed.
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With the onset of monsoon in the city of Kolkata, heavy rainfall has lashed several parts of the city. Several roads have been damaged and craters and potholes have appeared due to waterlogging. The drainage system is disrupted and has lead to water accumulation in several parts of the city. It is in these circumstances that an image of a boat being used to commute in a waterlogged street, crowded with vehicles in Bangladesh is being shared on social media with claims that it shows visuals of Kolkata, West Bengal, after a spell of heavy rain. the image that went viral was shared on Facebook and the caption translates to ” It’s complete reassuring a fact that, there is no other country, no other river and not even a city in the world where buses, bikes and boats can move on the same stretch of road; we can say proudly, we are Bengalis. Because it’s only possible in our London.”
The original text in Bangla, reads “আমি চ্যালেঞ্জ করে বলতে পারি, পৃথিবীতে আর কোনও দেশ নেই কোনও নদী নেই, এমনকি কোনও শহর ও নেই যেখানে একই রাস্তায় বাস, বাইক, আর নৌকা এক সাথে চলতে পারে, আমরা গর্ব কিরে বলতে পারি, আমরা বাঙালি।কেননা এটা শুধুমাত্র আমাদের লন্ডনে সম্ভব।”)
The reference in the caption dates back to 2011, when the Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee commented about turning ‘Kolkata into London’. However, later in 2015, when Banerjee visited London, she clarified her statement in an interview. She said that she compared Kolkata with London because both are situated on the banks of river Hooghly and Thames respectively.
A tweet that claimed the waterlogged streets are from Kolkata was found.
TRUTH
On reverse searching the above image, it was found that the viral image was clicked in June, 2018, at Begum Rokeya Avenue in Mirpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh. A a keyword search by using ‘Mirpur Waterlogging’ gave results of a bunch of photos in the gallery of Bdnews24 website. The caption on the similar image is, “Boat service is launched to ferry commuters on Rokeya Sarani at Kaziparha”. Photojournalist Asif Mahmud Ove of bdnews24 clicked the picture and the man in the photo is seen wearing the same T-shirt as in the viral photo.
Source: BDNews24
Also, on close examination of the viral post, few banners on the walls and buildings were found. The text ‘Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project’ (Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd.) written in English on the exteriors of an ongoing project alongside the road was located. Accordingly, this company is a Bangladesh government owned company, and is currently working on a metro rail project in the country.
Similarly, another building in the viral picture read “‘লাইফ এইড স্পেশালাইজড হাসপাতাল লি।’, in Bangla that translates to ‘Life Aid Specialized Hospital Ltd.’. Upon google searching the text, it was found that the name is of a private hospital addressed Begam Rokeya Sarani Avenue, Mirpur, Dhaka -216, Bangladesh.
Thus, it is evident that the picture in the viral post is from Bangladesh, taken in 2008 Therefore, we can conclude that the viral waterlogging photo is of Bangladesh and was captured in 2018.
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