On Friday (13th September), the popular Hindi news channel ‘Aaj Tak’ peddled fake news about the construction and demolition cost of the Hatkeshwar bridge in Ahmedabad city of Gujarat.
In a tweet, Aaj Tak falsely claimed that the bridge was constructed at a cost of ₹42 crores but the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) spent ₹52 crores on demolishing it.
For the unversed, the Hatkeshwar bridge in Ahmedabad was made open to the public in 2017 but was shut down in 2022 after it developed critical structural stability issues.
The bridge was constructed by Ajay Engineering Infrastructure Private Limited with SGS India Private Limited as its project monitoring consultant. According to reports, the total construction cost of the infrastructure project was 34 crores.
Aaj Tak falsely claimed that the Hatkeshwar bridge in Ahmedabad was built at a cost of ₹42 crores i.e. 8 crores extra. On top of that, the Hindi news channel alleged that the total cost of demolition stood at a staggering ₹52 crores.
In reality, ₹52 crores (₹51.7 crores to be precise) is not the cost of demolition of the infrastructure project.
एक जिम्मेदार और अग्रणी समाचार चैनल के रूप में, आपको प्रकाशन से पहले तथ्यों की जांच करनी चाहिए।
— Harsh Sanghavi (@sanghaviharsh) September 13, 2024
तथ्य यह है: पुराने पुल को ध्वस्त करने और नए पुल के निर्माण की संयुक्त लागत Rs. 52 करोड़ है।
नए पुल के निर्माण की राशि को पुराने पुल के ठेकेदार से वसूला जाएगा। https://t.co/voqHmpOB7t
It is the total cost of demolition as well as reconstruction of the Hatkeshwar bridge as evident from the tender of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) issued in July this year.
Aaj Tak made the dubious claims to insinuate a ‘quid pro quo corruption’ on the part of the AMC officials.
While it is true that substandard material was used in the construction of the infrastructure project (as confirmed by experts from IIT Roorkee and SVNIT Surat), AMC was quick to lodge an FIR against the Ajay Engineering Infrastructure Private Limited.
Gujarat Minister Harsh Sanghavi had even clarified that the cost of reconstruction of the Hatkeshwar bridge would be recovered from the contactor which originally built the project in 2017.
This however did not stop the so-called ‘fact checker’ from Alt News, Mohammed Zubair, from disseminating the lies peddled by Aaj Tak. He also took potshots at the ‘Gujarat Model’ based on his fake claims.
The Congress party did not stay behind in propagating fake news about the disparity between the demolition and construction of the Hatkeshwar bridge.
It claimed, “Cost of making – ₹42 crores, cost of breaking – ₹52 crores.”
