Is Centre buying new vehicles for army from money earned from petrol sale?
A message claiming that the Modi government is handing over new vehicles to the army, is viral on WhatsApp. Uses claim that they were brought from the money that people spent on petrol.
By Tejal Sinha Published on 20 July 2021 12:53 PM GMT
Hyderabad: A message claiming that the Modi government is handing over new vehicles to the army, is viral on WhatsApp. Uses claim that they were brought from the money that people spent on petrol.
The message also noted that the Paramilitary and Special Forces NSG are currently using the world's best bulletproof vehicle, the Renault Sherpa.
We also found that the viral message was also posted on Facebook on June 28, 2021.
Fact Check
The claim is misleading.
NewsMeter firstly performed keyword search from the viral message and found many reports on the nation's paramilitary forces using famous Sherpa armored vehicles.
We found a report by The EurAsian Times published on November 8, 2020, headlined `Indian Army Spotted Using French Armored Vehicles In Kashmir For Anti-Terror Operations'.
According to the report, the vehicle was already in service with the National Security Guards (NSG) and with select units of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to guard critical facilities.
The news of the induction of the Sherpa comes for the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which is the largest paramilitary force in the world with more than 300,000 personnel in service.
In addition to these new Sherpas, the CRPF has been operating Indigenous Mine-Protected Vehicle (MPV) as its mainstay MRAP (Mine-Protected Ambush Protected) vehicle.
Another report by Deccan Herald published on November 07, 2020 stated that with Srinagar city witnessing frequent encounters with militants this year, CRPF is set to induct heavy-armored vehicle 'Renault Sherpa', which can withstand explosives, for anti-militancy operations in Kashmir Valley.
Meanwhile, while performing a Google Reverse Image Search we found a tweet by Arti Mehra, ex-mayor municipal of Delhi on July 03, 2021.
She tweeted: "This is Kashmir of India, Military posted in Kashmir. Paramilitary and Special Forces NSG is currently using the world's best bulletproof vehicle, the Renault Sherpa. Those who feel that the Modi government has not done anything, such dissatisfied people can correct yourself."
It is therefore evident that the claim is misleading. The viral message is old news. There are no reports to prove that the money spent by the public on purchasing petrol is used for these vehicles. These vehicles were already in service.
