Fact Check: Viral photos of Uttarakhand forest fire on social media ‘mostly fake’: Govt
After the fake picture went viral, Uttarakhand Chief Minister took to Twitter to say that impact of the wildfires is not the same as propagated.
There is a dialogue in paatal lok “waise to shashtro me likha hua hai, par maine whatsapp pe padha tha.” Don’t believe everything you read on social media, especially what’s app. Well, long story short, you have definitely been and probably shared pictures of the burning Uttarakhand forests, if yes, then delete the post or don’t share it. Well, it isn’t real.
Incidents of fires in Uttarakhand have gone up in the last 5 days, but the devastation is nowhere close to what the state had experienced last May, say officials.
#Uttarakhand is burning from 4 days, it has been reported Uttarakhand has lost nearly 51.43 hectares of forest cover,46 Wildfires & Over Half The Wildlife Species are In Danger & the worst part no media channel is showing this! #PrayForUttarakhand @News18Punjab @BBCHindi pic.
The Quint found that this was uploaded on Getty Images in September 2007 and was taken on 18 September 2007 during the California wildfire season.
Uttarakhand Forest Department has also released a statement regarding the same.
So next time think twice before sharing anything on social media.