BMC’s Appeal in 2018 to Drink Boiled Water Shared Amid COVID-19

We found an article published by Free Press Journal on 6 May 2018 that had the same content as that of the clipping.

Old newspaper clipping on BMC’s appeal to drink boiled water passed off amid coronavirus pandemic.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

CLAIM

A newspaper clipping is being shared to claim that Mumbai’s Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has appealed Mumbaikars to drink boiled water for seven days. This clipping is being circulated amid the coronavirus scare across the world.

Several social media users have shared the clipping on Twitter and Facebook.

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Facebook/ Screenshot)

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Facebook/ Screenshot)

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WHAT’S THE TRUTH?

We searched on Google using keywords “BMC drink boil water for seven says” and found an article published by Free Press Journal on 6 May 2018 with the headline: “BMC’s appeal: Drink boiled water for next seven days.”

The article mentioned that BMC had issued a notice in May 2018 appealing the people of Mumbai to drink boiled for seven days as there were chances of supply of turbid water then.

The Ghatkopar reservoir tank was to be operational from 7 May 2018 after completion of work, and in the initial days, there was a possibility that turbid water would have been supplied.

Speaking to The Quint, PRO of BMC said that the clipping in question is old and that the municipal corporation has made no such appeal in recent times.

“This clipping is old and unrelated to coronavirus. We have made no such appeal recently,” he said.

We also found posts dating back to 2018 that claimed that BMC had appealed people residing in selected areas of Mumbai to drink boiled water for seven days.

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