‘They are saying all kinds of ‘Chung Chang’ things’ statement not made by power minister
Graphics: Agamir Somoy
Load shedding amid the heat has left people frustrated. Discussions about the issue are also taking place on social media. Amid this situation misleading information is also spreading.
Recently a photocard featuring a photo of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku went viral and sparked widespread discussion. However, verification found that the statement on the photocard is not true.
What is being claimed?
The photocard was uploaded on several Facebook profiles and pages yesterday and today.
The photocard reads, “They are saying all kinds of ‘Chung Chang’ things in Chinese. We are agreeing without understanding. Later we see that electricity costs Tk 25 per unit.”
A Facebook page named ‘NewsTime TV’ had shared the photocard 6,700 times as of Saturday when this report was written. The post received 184,800 reactions and nearly 9,000 comments. The same statement was also found being circulated by several other pages and accounts.
What is the actual incident?
A search using relevant keywords found no such statement by Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku in any news outlet or reliable source.
However, several news outlets have reported remarks by Mir Shahe Alam, State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, regarding purchasing electricity from China at Tk 25 per unit.
In a report published by ‘Jago News’ on August 27, State Minister Mir Shahe Alam was quoted as saying, “We will buy electricity from them at Tk 25 per unit. The project is expected to go into production within 18 months. Accordingly, electricity generated from waste at Aminbazar could be connected to the national grid around August or September 2028.”
However, there was no similarity between this statement and the claim made on the photocard.
Meanwhile, the ‘NewsTime TV’ page identifies itself in its About section as a ‘satire’ or ‘parody’ page. The page regularly publishes satirical and humorous content on various issues.
Apparently, many people failed to understand the satirical nature of the page's content and circulated the post believing it to be true.
