Fact-Check: Image of an Expressway in China Shared as One From India

The image is of the Weiyuan-Wudu Expressway in Northwest China's Gansu Province in China. 

(Source: Altered by The Quint)

An image of an expansive highway is being shared as National Highway (NH) 44 that runs from Srinagar to Kanyakumari in India.

What are users saying?: The users are claiming that the image is of NH 44 in Jammu and Kashmir and attributing its development to PM Narendra Modi with the hashtag #ModiHaiTohMumkin hai.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

What is the truth?: The highway image is not of the National Highway 44 in Jammu and Kashmir, India.

• The image is of the Weiyuan-Wudu Expressway in Northwest China's Gansu Province that opened in 2020.

• The total length of the expressway is 234 kms.

How did we find out?: We conducted a reverse Google image search on the viral image and came across a page named Caixin Global.

• The page had published a photo story on the "China Has Big Plans for Highway Expansion."

• On slide 8 of the photo story, the same image as the viral image with the caption, "The Weiyuan-Wudu Expressway in Northwest China's Gansu province opened to traffic in 2020."

• They credited the image to the Visual China Group (VCG).

We drew a comparison between the viral image and the Caixin Global image and found similarties. 

(Source: Facebook/Caixin Global/Altered by The Quint)

• Using relevant keywords, we searched on China's search engine Baidu and came across two articles that further verified our research.

• An article that was published on 8 November 2020 noted that transportation development in the form of Weiyuan airport would make life easier in the province and carried the same image.

• Further, we also found a People.China report that was published on 2 January 2020 about the press conference that was held by the Provincial Department of Transportation on 31 December 2019 to inaugurate the Longnan section of the Weiyuan-Wudu expressway.

It mentioned that the Longnan section of the expressway is 133.4 kms long. 

(Source: People.China/Screenshot)

National Highway 44: NH 44 is India's longest highway which connects the North to the South corners of the country.

• The highway passes through Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and is 4,112 kilometres long.

• A tunnel, known as the T-5 tunnel streching across 870 meters at Panthyal in Ramban district's Ramsu area in Jammu and Kashmir was opened for commuters in May 2023.

Conclusion: The image is being falsely circulated as NH 44 in Jammu and Kashmir. It is of the The Weiyuan-Wudu Expressway in Northwest China's Gansu province.

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