A video of a train carrying migrant workers, which shows them throwing food and water packets on the railway platform is being shared on social media. The platform, where police personnel are standing, is littered with open food packets along the length of the platform.

Claim: “मुंबई हून उत्तर भारतीयांना जाण्यासाठी काही खास रेलवे गाड्या सोडल्या गेल्या…
पण त्या मुजोर भैय्या लोकांनी शाकाहारी जेवन प्लँटफोर्म वर फेकून दिले…
काय करायचं यांचं ?”

(Translation: Special trains were arranged to take North Indians home from Mumbai…but those Bhaiyyas threw the vegetarian food on the platform, what do we do with them?)

 

Facebook

 

(Archived)

This video, shared by page MNS News Live was widely viewed and shared.

 

 

(Archived)

 

 

Twitter

The claim did not receive much traction on Twitter but was sporadically shared by users.

अत्यंत खेदाची गोष्ट आहे
या परप्रांतियांना महाराष्ट्राने भरभरून दिले तेच आता आपापल्या गावी जाताना महाराष्ट्राला शिव्या शाप देत चालले आहेत
ते सुखरूप गावी पोचावे म्हणून सरकारने जेवण,गाडी यांची व्यवस्था करून दिली
तरीही जेवण रस्तावर फेकून देत चालले आहेत किती हा माज#मराठीभैय्ये pic.twitter.com/Pj8iaAHPt4

— प्र₹काश💙 (@Mahendr95321820) May 6, 2020

मुंबई हून उत्तर भारतीयांना जाण्यासाठी काही खास रेलवे गाड्या सोडल्या गेल्या…
पण त्या मुजोर भैय्या लोकांनी त्यांची लायकी दाखवून दिली…😡😡
हराखोरांनी *शाकाहारी* जेवन प्लँटफोर्म वर फेकून दिले…
*किती हा माज…*#महाराष्ट्रद्वेषी_परप्रांतीय pic.twitter.com/BNlOpRvKHx

— Marathi Community (@KingdomOfMH) May 6, 2020

#मुंबई हून उत्तर भारतीयांना जाण्यासाठी काही खास रेलवे गाड्या सोडल्या गेल्या…
पण त्या मुजोर भैय्या लोकांनी शाकाहारी जेवन प्लँटफोर्म वर फेकून दिले…
किती हा माज..
आता तुम्हीच ठरवा कि ह्यांना परत जागा देयची का नाही.#shameful. @RajThackeray @mnsadhikrut you was right 👍🏻@Sarkar_09 pic.twitter.com/nLnp4gnr1r

— Tejas Moyal (@tejas_moyal) May 8, 2020

 

 

Truth

 

Using video verification tool InVid, we found that this video came on social media on May 4, 2020. One of the keyframes obtained from the tool helped us identify the railway station as Asansol Junction in West Bengal.

 

We went through the Indian Railways’ official Facebook page and it’s multiple Twitter handles (official Indian Railways handle and its support handle) for clarification regarding the incident aboard the Shramik Special trains. By using Twitter Advanced Search, we found two tweets on May 5 with similar videos, wherein the same voice from the viral video can be heard.

 

While @MamataOfficial government gave good food & hospitality to students from @ALLENkota and pilgrims from Ajmer on arrival at Asansol, see the condition of food provided by @RailMinIndia at Asansol Station to migrant labourers of Bihar from Kerala going to Patna. @PiyushGoyal pic.twitter.com/4i2xdsURVi

— Jitendra Tiwari (@JitendraTMC) May 5, 2020

 

Hello @RailMinIndia, passengers travelling in Shramik train from #Kerala to #Danapur complained of being served stale food at #Asansol station. The food packets were thrown by them on the platform in protest. Please ensure safe edible food for migrants. 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/AltaHdbENw

— Sreyashi Dey (@SreyashiDey) May 5, 2020

In this video, the man is heard saying that the train came from Kerala, where they received clean food. He says, “In Asansol now the food stinks and is not edible. Sickness will spread, not reduce because of food like this.” The video shows more people dumping out food from the train.

The second video, posted by user Sreyashi Dey, a journalist for Times Now, received a reply from Indian Railways Seva. An IRCTC official validated and clarified the incident, adding that alternative arrangements were made at Jhajha station.

 

Maam, it was yesterday incident and alternative arrangement was done at Jhajha station . Also corrective measures have taken to avoid such issue.

-IRCTC Official

— Indian Railways Seva (@RailwaySeva) May 5, 2020

 

The Quint spoke to the public relations officers for the Eastern Railways, Eklabya Chakraborty in a report. He said that the food was arranged by IRCTC and was not up to the mark. Chakraborty added that alternative arrangements could be made at Asansol due to time constraints, but were made at the next station.

 

 

Therefore, the video is neither from Maharashtra nor are ungrateful ‘Bhaiyyas’ throwing out food because it was vegetarian. These claims are false.

The migrant workers threw out stale, inedible food at Asansol Junction railway station in West Bengal.