Piyush Goyal posts wrong photo of 'illuminated' Indian streets, Twitterati call it out

Union power minister Piyush Goyal found himself in the centre of a schooling session by Twitter users on appropriate image usage following his tweet lauding the government’s effort to illuminate Indian streets.

Goyal had initially posted an inauthentic image to announce that his ministry’s had illuminated 50,000 km of Indian roads by retrofitting streetlights with LED lights. The tweet was later deleted after Twitter users brought the use of the inappropriate image to the notice of the minister, reported Hindustan Times .

After the power minister’s followers pointed out that the image was not of an Indian street, Goyal thanked them for pointing out the error. Saying that social media helped “illuminate facts”, he put out a new tweet with the correct image on Monday.

Govt. has illuminated 50,000 KM of Indian roads by retrofitting 30 lakh conventional street lights with LED lights. pic.twitter.com/awvQjmCPUg

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) August 21, 2017

Thanks to many who pointed issues with earlier image. While we illuminate streets, social media helps illuminate facts, helping us improve.

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) August 21, 2017

According to  The Times of India , Goyal had tweeted a link to a PIB release on Sunday, along with a picture of an street lit with fluorescent lights. The image was the same as that carried by  Cnet  for an article on Japanese lighting firm Luminus “expanding into white LEDs.”

After replacing LED lights in Canada, now BJP has replaced LED Lights in Russia. Massive respect for BJP and @PiyushGoyal pic.twitter.com/XyemXjrIVZ

— Joy (@Joydas) August 20, 2017

An online hoax busting website was among the first ones to point out the wrong image representation in Goyal tweet on Sunday.

Great work sir. But a small request when it's already done, pls use real photos. This is decade old used by many manufacturers & countries https://t.co/LY5BoQCG5A

— SM Hoax Slayer (@SMHoaxSlayer) August 20, 2017