As states across the nation impose lockdowns and curbs to combat the deadly COVID-19 second wave, a picture of a road, with vegetables scattered all over it, is being shared on social media.
The picture is being shared with a claim that even as liquor shops were open during the lockdown, the government is forcing vegetable vendors to close their shops.
“दारू की दुकान इसलिए #खुली रहेंगी क्योंकि उससे सरकार चलती है सब्ज़ी की दुकान इसलिए #बंद रहेगी क्योंकि उससे परिवार चलते हैं” the facebook post read.
(Translation: Liquor shops are open will be open because they are run by the government, the vegetable shop will be closed because vendor’s families survive on it.)
Here’s the link to the above post.
Other similar posts can be seen here, here, here and here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the post and found the claim to be misleading.
On putting the picture through Reverse Image Search, we found that the same picture was shared by multiple social media users in May 2020. Here’s the link to the Facebook post.
According to the above post, the picture is from the Pioneer Market in Barasat, West Bengal.
The same post was also shared on Twitter in May 2020.
दारू की दुकान पुलिस संरक्षण में खोली जा रही है और सब्ज़ी की दुकान तोड़ी जा रही हैं। वाह रे शासन वाह। pic.twitter.com/6JOazeRdJJ
— Surendra Rajput (@ssrajputINC) May 5, 2020
In the picture, we also noticed that the text on some billboards was written in Bengali and also the number plate one of the vehicle had ‘WB’ mentioned on it, which is used for vehicles registered in West Bengal.
As for the claim about vegetable and liquor stores, since each state has imposed their own set of restrictions and lockdowns, the details of what will be closed or open varies from state to state.
According to a report by the Jagran English, ‘nearly all non-essential services, including liquor stores, have been asked to stay shut in most states and UTs’. However, several states like Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Karnataka allowed home delivery of liquor by wine shops. Whereas, liquor shops are allowed to stay open in Punjab and Goa, with certain restrictions.
Moreover, according to a report by Business Standard dated May 10, 2021, essential services such as groceries, milk booths, pharmacy shops, etc will remain open in Delhi while groceries, shops selling food items, fruits and vegetables, meat and fish and animal fodder will function from 6 am to 10 am in Karnataka.
In Maharashtra, groceries are allowed to open for four hours only in the morning, from 7 am to 11 am. In Rajasthan, vegetable shops have been permitted to open with certain restrictions while, in Tamil Nadu, vegetable, grocery shops will be open till 12 noon. More details about the lockdown restriction in different states can be seen here.
The above information proves that the picture in circulation is OLD. However, NewsMobile could not independently verify the origin and location of the pictures.
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