Video of Migrants Throwing Stale Food Shared with Misleading Claim

Eastern Railways PRO said that it was reported that the food being served in the train was not up to the mark.

A viral video on social media falsely claimed that migrant workers threw food packets out of a moving train and wasted food. Social media users also went on to question migrants by saying that how can they complain about not getting food when they can be seen wasting it.

But the truth is that the food which was served to the labourers, was stale and that’s the reason why they threw it out.

CLAIM

Several social media users shared the video on Twitter and Facebook with similar claims. In the video, food packets can be seen lying at a station and people can be heard chanting “murdabad murdabad”.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

The incident took place on Monday, 4 May, and the train seen in the viral video was carrying migrant labourers from Ernakulam in Kerala to Danapur in Bihar.

The video showing migrants throwing food packets from a moving train is from Asansol station, in West Bengal, which was a fifteen-minute stoppage on the way.

The Quint had earlier reported that as per local sources, many of the migrant labourers had complained that the food was stale and started dumping it at the railway station. In some videos, the migrants also complained that the food had a foul odour.

This video is apparently being shared on social media with the claim that migrant workers are wasting food. But local sources say that the food, which was served in Asansol, was indeed stale. Also that food was fine till Asansol. TMC has hit out at the Railways.

— Ishadrita Lahiri (@ishadrita) May 6, 2020

Further, Eastern Railways PRO Ekalabya Chakraborty, accepted that there were reports about problems with the food being served.

He told The Quint, “The food arrangement was made by IRCTC. In some coaches, it was reported that the food was not up to the mark. There is no question of denial. There were problems with the food. Because of the paucity of time, we couldn't rectify it at the Asansol station itself. However, we arranged for food again in the next station.”

Responding to a journalist on Twitter, Indian Railways Seva had mentioned that alternative arrangements were made at Jhajha station. “Also corrective measures have been taken to avoid such issue,” the response added.

While the incident seen in the video did take place, the claim that the migrant labourers wasted the food is misleading.

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