A video showing people labelling oxygen containers with stickers of ‘Reliance’ is being shared on social media with a claim that these are oxygen tankers supplied to India by Saudi Arabia and Reliance is trying to take credit for the same.
The Quint got in touch with Reliance spokesperson and found several news reports which stated that the conglomerate is helping ramp up the supply of medical oxygen in India amid the coronavirus crisis.
As part of this initiative Reliance has increased the production of medical grade liquid oxygen and has airlifted 24 ISO containers for transportation of oxygen from different countries in the world, including Saudi Arabia.
CLAIM
The aforementioned video is being massively shared on Facebook and Twitter with a claim saying that oxygen donated by Saudi is being relabelled by Reliance, insinuating that Reliance Industries is trying to steal the credit for the supply of oxygen to India.
WHAT WE FOUND
We checked the official Twitter handle of the Indian Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and found a tweet thanking the Saudi government for supplying 80 metric tons of liquid oxygen during the coronavirus crisis. The tweet also carried images of tankers deployed for the purpose.
Next, we reached out to a spokesperson from the Reliance Industries who told us that the video is being shared with a misleading claim. She told us that Reliance Group Chairman Mukesh Ambani is personally monitoring the group's efforts to tackle shortage of medical oxygen in India.
She further shared a press release by the Reliance Group with us which clearly stated that Reliance has ramped up production of medical grade liquid oxygen and is facilitating transport of oxygen from Saudi Arabia by airlifting ISO containers.
The Reliance spokesperson also shared images of these containers with us.
- 01/02
(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)
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(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)
Clearly, the claim being shared with the viral video fails on account of facts. Now only is the container seen in the video different from those sent by Saudi Arabia, Reliance itself is facilitating transport of containers from the country. Hence, the question of hijacking credits by relabelling oxygen containers holds no ground.
(Update: The story has been updated to remove an image from the Reliance spokesperson as it didn’t appear to carry an original label. We have replaced that image to avoid any confusion.)
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