An old video of vehicles driving over a massive pothole in China is being falsely shared on social media with a claim that it is from Maharashtra.
The 1.09 minutes video was posted on X by Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sushma Andhare linking the video to Maharashtra, and criticising Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis regarding potholes.
A large billboard with an ad featuring Fadnavis making a promise about delivering good roads, can be seen in the clip.
Andhare posted the video with the caption, "Quality roads and Fadnavis' words, transformation will happen..". The video is being shared with a banner of Fadnvis that quotes him saying, "Quality roads or there would be no service tax - this is my word".
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FACT-CHECK: Video Of Potholed Road Not From Maharashra
BOOM found that the viral video of vehicles driving over a massive pothole is from China.
BOOM had previously debunked the same video back in August 2020, when it was being shared falsely linking it Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Tracing the visuals of the potholed road to China
We broke the video into key frames and ran a reverse image search on Google, which led to multiple Chinese websites confirming that the footage is from a road in China.
Taking a hint from this we searched with the keywords, 'potholes on Chinese road' on YouTube and found a video uploaded on LiveLeak dated July 12, 2020.
A Google search with the characters that appear on the bottom right corner of the video '小强兄弟 123', we found a longer video 1.54 minutes. This longer version of the video was uploaded on June 16, 2020, on Bilibili, a Chinese video sharing site. The video caption when translated reads, "Record how many cars have passed by leveling the earth? ? Everyone pay attention to safety when driving."
Visual clues proving the potholed video is from China and not Maharashtra
We analysed the longer version of the clip and found that video is not from Maharashtra or even India. These are three clues that establish the video is from China.
1) Chinese Shop billboards on the potholed road
We noticed that the shop billboards present in the background had Chinese characters. We used Google's translation app which recognised the language as Chinese.
2) Jiangling Motors vehicle on the road
At the 1.30 minute counter in the video, a white truck passes by with 'JMC' written on it. A search showed that JMC stands for Jiangling Motors Corporation Limited (JMC) a Chinese automobile manufacturer headquartered in Jiangxi, China.
3) Vehicles driving on the right side of the road
In the video one can spot left hand side driving in the vehicle unlike India, which has right hand driving rules. This means that in the video the steering wheel can be seen on the left side in the vehicles, whereas in India it is on the right side.
Additionally, we also noticed that the viral video has been flipped to make the false claim that it is from India.
We could not independently verify the origin of the video, however, we could establish that the viral clip is not from Maharashtra as being falsely claimed.
2017 Devendra Fadnavis hoarding promising "Good Roads or No Road Tax"
The hoarding of Fadnavis, promising good roads or no road tax, which is being shared alongside the viral video, dates back to February 2017 and was installed in Thane, Maharashtra. This photo has been circulating widely, criticising the Deputy Chief Minister over the state of the roads.
