Video Editor: Rahul Sanpui
A morphed image of a Pune Junction railway platform ticket saying ‘Adani Railway’ is being circulated on social media with the claim that the cost of the platform ticket was increased to Rs 50 due to privatisation.
The original image, tweeted by journalist Prashant Kanojia in August, has been edited to include ‘Adani Railway - Railway is now our private property’ over ‘Pune Junction.’ A senior public relations officer (PRO) of the Central Railways also confirmed to The Quint’s WebQoof team that the viral ticket was “bogus.”
Further, the price of the platform ticket was increased to Rs 50 purportedly to “maintain social distancing norms during the pandemic”.
CLAIM
Several social media users shared the image with the claim that ‘Indian Railways has now become Adani Railway.’
A user also shared the image stating that “Indian Railways has gotten out of the reach of poor and middle class people.”
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
A reverse image search led us to a report by Hindi daily, Dainik Jagran, carrying a tweet, dated 17 August by journalist Prashant Kanojia with the platform ticket’s image.
Comparing the image tweeted by Kanojia with the viral image, we found that both the tickets had the same numbers. The original image had been edited to say ‘Adani Railway’ on top of ‘Pune Junction.’
A senior PRO of the Central Railways also confirmed to The Quint’s WebQoof team that the viral ticket saying ‘Adani Railway’ was “bogus.”
IS THE COST OF THE PLATFORM TICKET RS 50?
The Spokesperson of Railways had said then that the cost of the platform ticket has been increased to Rs 50 during the coronavirus pandemic to maintain social distancing norms and discourage people from coming to the platform unnecessarily.
According to The Indian Express, the Railway Board Chairman VK Yadav told ANI that divisional railway managers had been instructed to increase the cost of platform ticket at a local level to avoid crowding at stations.
“This decision will be reviewed after the pandemic,” Yadav stated.
IS PUNE JUNCTION PRIVATELY OWNED?
The railway station is still under the government. However, the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Limited (IRSDC) had appointed a city-based private firm Bharat Vikas Group (BVG) as the ‘facility manager,’ in 2019.
“Now, the railways will only take care of train movements and ticketing. The selected company will take care of all other works, including station maintenance, cleanliness and security. The ISDCL has handed the contract to the company. From the next year, the company will be responsible for all kinds of work at the station,” then Divisional railway manager (DRM), Pune, Milind Deouskar told the Times of India.
According to a report in The Indian Express, the contract is for three years and the maintenance work would be done under the supervision of the station director and other railway officials. Further, the rate for various facilities and amenities would continue to be decided by the Railway Board.
We had earlier debunked several such claims which talk about privatisation of Indian Railways and airports, in various cities, linking them to industrialist Gautam Adani.
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