Mumbai local train service was reopened to the general public from February 1 onwards. According to Aaj Tak, “Railway Minister Piyush Goyal announced that as per the Maharashtra government’s instructions, only those employed in essential services would be permitted to travel in the local trains between 7 AM to 12 noon and 4 PM to 9 PM. Others will not be allowed to travel in the local trains in these hours.” In the midst of this, a 20-second video of a crowd gathered near the train at a railway station is being shared widely on social media. Users claim that this was a scene from Mumbai’s Borivali railway station. Twitter user @joshibhargavi99’s video drew over 6,200 views at the time of writing. (Archive link)
Borivali Railway station Today#RailBudget2021 #rail#mumbailocal @PiyushGoyal @AamchiBest pic.twitter.com/xrD8Ym6i5A
— Joshi b_jndaajtak (@joshibhargavi99) February 2, 2021
Aniruddha B Chandorkar shared the video with the same claim on Facebook. (Archive link)
I cannot blame Mumbaikars for these scenes shot today apparently at Borivali station ….
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I have stayed in the Megapolis for more than 2 decades and know how tough life is in the city….Posted by Aniruddha B Chandorkar on Wednesday, February 3, 2021
Leo De Chinchinim, another Facebook user, also posted the clip and accompanying claim. (Archive link)
Borivali Station Today 👇
Posted by Leo De Chinchinim on Wednesday, February 3, 2021
Fact-check
Replying to a tweet by @joshibhargavi99, Senior DSC, Mumbai, W.R., wrote that the video seems to be fake. He clarified that sufficient uniformed staff was deployed at the stations to regulate the crowd.
The video seems to be a fake one, as local trains resumed for general public only on yesterday after almost 10 months. Sufficient uniformed staff are deployed at stations to regulate the crowd. No such instance of crowd congregation has been reported from across suburban section.
— Sr.DSC/MUMBAI/W.R. (@rpfwrbct) February 2, 2021
Investigating further, Alt News performed a reverse image search of a still from the video. This led us to a YouTube video dated March 21, 2016 which said the crowd was from Mumbai.
Therefore, a clip of a massive crowd boarding a Mumbai local train from at least four years ago was shared as recent. Users claimed that the visuals showed the Borivali railway station after train services resumed for the general public in Mumbai.
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