A post accompanying the image of a purported Government Order of the Telangana government stating that all shops and commercial establishments will be closed from 6 pm to 8 am till 30 April 2021 in the state is being widely shared across social media platforms. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Image of Telangana government G.O. stating all shops and commercial shops will be closed from 6 pm to 8 am till 30 April 2021.
Fact: Telangana government has not issued any such G.O about closure of shops and commercial establishments. Various government representatives through social media posts have stated the same and reiterated that this is fake. The viral G.O. is digitally created by extracting the excerpts from the 1st and 4th page of a G.O. copy dated 22 March 2020, which issued guidelines regarding the lockdown for the first time in the state. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Google search with relevant keywords led us to a Facebook post by Information & Public Relations Dept, Government of Telangana which has categorically stated that no such G.O has been issued by the Telangana government. Further, their post rated the news as fake.
Even the official twitter handle of Office of Chief Secretary, Telangana Govt through a tweet stated the same.
Further search on the Telangana government’s COVID-19 website yielded the G.O. dated 22 March 2020 about the first lockdown in the state in the year 2020. On careful observation, we can find that the purported G.O. in the post is digitally created by extracting excerpts from the 1st and 4th pages of G.O dated 22 March 2020. Except for the date of issuance of the G.O, all other information (G.O. no, other G.O specifications, etc.) are exactly the same in both the purported G.O and the old G.O.
Also, as far as the general administration department is concerned, there are no G.O.s issued by the Telangana government between 31 March 2021 and 01 April 2021 about COVID-19 . The latest G.O. released by the government on the COVID-19 website is dated 27 March 2021 with G.O. no. 68.
All these establish the fact that the Telangana government has not issued any such G.O about the closure of shops and commercial establishments in the wake of COVID-19.
However, there has been a surge in the number of cases related to COVID-19 in the country and in Telangana as well. Both the central and state governments have advised people to be cautious. In fact, the Telangana government has announced some strict measures such as the mandatory wearing of masks in public places, closure of educational institutions, etc., and have also issued G.O’s regarding the same.
To sum it up, the purported G.O by Telangana government about closure of shops and commercial establishments is FAKE.
