Several media organisations and journalists have shared a document with a claim that it shows the recent list of 244 districts that have been selected for conducting civil defence mock drills on 7 May.
What is the claim: The list shows the 244 districts where the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will be conducting civil defence mock drills on 7 May.
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Photo: X/Screenshot)
Apart from Times Now and Jagran, India TV, TV9 Bharatvarsh and Aaj Tak also shared the list.
What is the truth: While it is true that the MHA has asked districts to conduct The list shared is an old one from 2005 and is not recent.
How we found the truth:
At first noticed we noticed that the viral "MHA document" was titled “Revised List Of Civil Defence Districts…,” and was dated "September 29, 2005, and October 31, 2005".
We also noticed that it mentioned Hyderabad was mentioned as one of the districts in Andhra Pradesh, whereas it is now a district in the state of Telangana, founded in 2014 after separating from Andhra Pradesh,
Similarly, the document used the old spelling of Odisha (Orissa), indicating that the list was old and is mistakenly being circulated as recent.
Additionally, the total mentioned at the end of the document was 259 instead of 244 as claimed by the organisations.
Tracing the old document:
We conducted an advanced search on Google and traced the viral document back to 2010.
The document was addressed to the concerned civil defence officers of all states and UTs, dated 2 March 2010, and asked them to furnish the relevant details the selected multi-hazard prone districts.
Press conferences by police authorities and a recent document shared with The Quint about the mock drill locations also shows that the districts mentioned in the viral list were not where the drills would be conducted on 7 May.
About the civil defence mock drills:
Different states and UTs have issued different advisories regarding the civil defence mock drills that are scheduled to be conducted on 7 May.
The mock drills are being conducted following the Centre's orders to the northern states to strengthen their civil defence amid spiralling tensions along the Line of Control over a possible military response by India to the Pahalgam terror attack.
Conclusion: It is clear that an old 2005 list is being shared a recent list of districts chosen for the civil defence mock drill on 7 May.
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