A 1:48 minute video of a giant excavator crushing wooden fruit carts with accompanying message, गरीबी मुक्त भारत बनाने की तैयारी। उत्तर प्रदेश से शुरू। (Development of poverty-free India beings from UP) is being widely circulated on social media.
However, fact-check by different media organisations has belied the claim. The video instead is a shot from an eviction drive by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation near Unit I market in the Odisha capital on January 24.
Several social media users have shared it on Twitter and Facebook, where it has over 1.1 million views and more than 51,000 shares.
According to sources, 15 fruit stalls and a cabinet along the stretch from Raj Mahal Chhak to AG Square were demolished during the drive using JCB. The vendors had illegally occupied government land and conducting business from there. The drive was carried out to allow public to move freely on the roads, a BMC official had said.
