Earlier this month, Patrika, a very popular Hindi language news publication published a story claiming that the Uttar Pradesh government has purchased a ₹ 84 crore helicopter for chief minister Yogi Adityanath. The report claimed that the nine-seater chopper has been procured from the United States of America and has been tested in mountain regions before being handed over to the UP government.
However, the Uttar Pradesh government had soon clarified that no such helicopter has been procured by the UP government.
उत्तर प्रदेश सरकार ने पिछले डेढ़ साल में कोई एयरक्राफ्ट या हेलीकॉप्टर नहीं खरीदा है। सोशल मीडिया पर इस संबंध में प्रसारित खबरें मिथ्या हैं।
— Government of UP (@UPGovt) October 18, 2018
Despite the clarification by the Uttar Pradesh government, Patrika has not yet updated the story.
Not only that, Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party, in a bid to take a dig at Yogi government, spread lies that Yogi Adityanath bought a helicopter for himself. On its official Facebook page for Uttar Pradesh, Aam Aadmi Party put up a meme which claimed that Punjab chief minister bought 432 SUVs for ministers, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister bought a helicopter for himself and the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal bought 1,000 non-polluting buses for people of Delhi.
This post has some lies and some half-truths. While the Congress-led Punjab government, reeling under the debt of almost 2 lakh crore, has indeed issued orders for buying SUVs for ministers, the total cars are for the chief minister, minister, MLAs as well as bureaucrats.
With respect to Yogi Adityanath, the Uttar Pradesh government has clarified that no such helicopter was purchased by the state, let alone one for the CM’s personal use.
AAP’s claims on the 1,000 non-polluting buses is also half-baked. In July this year, the Delhi cabinet had given in-principle approval for hiring a consultant to run 1,000 electric buses at an estimated cost of Rs. 2,500 crore. A detailed study regarding the same was to be submitted in 3 months. At the time of this report, there is no update on the study and/or procurement of buses. Last we know, a delegation of senior officials including Transport Minister Kailash Gehlot, who is currently embroiled in income tax raids, was to visit China to study the working mechanism of e-buses in China.
