Did “IRRIGATION DEPARTMENT” Actually Misspell their Bus Sticker As “IRRITATION DEPARTMENT”? Find out the truth…
Digital photo manipulation has become quite an easy task with many advanced image editing software tools, and sometimes, a carefully edited image can take much work to decipher. Such image creations can not only mislead but individuals or organizations targeted by the photo edits could also be at the receiving end of public outrage. This […]
Digital photo manipulation has become quite an easy task with many advanced image editing software tools, and sometimes, a carefully edited image can take much work to decipher. Such image creations can not only mislead but individuals or organizations targeted by the photo edits could also be at the receiving end of public outrage.
This is our investigation into such a misleading photo edit viral on social media streams, claiming to be a glaring misspelt error by the Irrigation Department of Sri Lanka. As a result, the Sri Lankan state sector was ridiculed as a whole among locals as well as foreigners.
Social Media Posts:
A photo was circulated on social media showing that a bus belonging to the Irrigation Department of Sri Lanka mistakenly mentioned the name of that department as “IRRITATION DEPARTMENT” on a sticker displayed at the back of the bus, as seen below.
This photo was published in a satirical manner on Twitter.
These posts were viral on Facebook also.
Also, this image soon went global and was shared among Indians also in a satirical manner. Archived Link
From the sarcastic responses given to these posts, it was seen that many believed that the sticker was mistakenly pasted on a bus belonging to the Irrigation Department due to genuine ignorance.
Fact Check:
We tried to find other sightings or images of the bus with the sticker “IRRITATION DEPARTMENT”, as shown in viral photos. Yet, we were unable to find any other instances on social media. Therefore, since only one particular angle of this claim was available also, we decided to find out the facts about the authenticity of the image.
IRRIGATION DEPARTMENT
Due to this, we inquired about the media section of the Irrigation Department to check whether the bus was incorrectly spelt as IRRITATION DEPARTMENT.
An officer of the media division stated that the image viral on social media is a manipulated photo, and the same bus (registration no 63 – 4944) belongs to the irrigation department. He added that both the front and back of this particular bus displayed the correct spellings (IRRIGATION DEPARTMENT) and requested anyone in doubt to visit the Irrigation Department head office to verify the same.
Regional Mechanical Engineering Office Halpathota
Mr S.H.K.N Gunaratne, Mechanical Engineer of the Halpathota Regional Mechanical Engineering Office of the Irrigation Department, stated that this particular bus (63-4944) belongs to the department's head office and is used for staff transportation services mainly.
He emphasized that this bus was repaired back in 2021, and since then, there has not been any renovation. “If such a renovation were to happen, it would have been done at RME Halpathota only”, Mr Gunaratne added.
Furthermore, RME Halpathota Mechanical Engineer assured us that the bus's IRRIGATION DEPARTMENT spellings were correct before and after the renovation.
To confirm this fact, he directed us to the Facebook photo collection posted by the RME Halpathota office back in August 2021, which contained images of the 63-4944 bus before and after the repair.
Below is a photo comparison of the same bus (63-4944) before and after the renovations, which clearly shows the striker at the back of the bus correctly displaying the text as “IRRIGATION DEPARTMENT.”
Photo of the same bus from May 2022 with “IRRIGATION DEPARTMENT”
A group of the staff of the Irrigation Department posted a few images with the same bus on May 28, 2022. It is clear that “IRRIGATION DEPARTMENT” had been correctly spelt on the sticker of the 63-4944 bus, as seen below.
Photos sent from the Department head office today also show the text as “IRRIGATION DEPARTMENT.”
To confirm the current status of the bus, we got a photo and a video of the bus bearing number 63-4944 on December 28th, parked at the head office of the Irrigation Department. As seen below, “IRRITATION DEPARTMENT” is not shown on the back sticker of the bus at present as well and has the correct spelling of “IRRIGATION DEPARTMENT.”
We also did a digital analysis of the font (Neue Aachen font family) used in the sticker of the IRRIGATION DEPARTMENT text and the text spacing options as well and found that letter spacing in the viral image with 'IRRITATION DEPARTMENT' showed discrepancies as well, indicating an image manipulation.
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Conclusion:
According to our investigation, we found a photo viral on social media implying that a bus belonging to the Irrigation Department of Sri Lanka had mistakenly displayed the department's name as “IRRITATION DEPARTMENT” to be an image manipulation.
This bus (63-4944) belongs to the Irrigation Department and is used mainly for staff transportation services from the head office. It was seen that the correct spelling was displayed at the back of the bus seen as “IRRIGATION DEPARTMENT.”
Title:Did “IRRIGATION DEPARTMENT” Actually Misspelt their Bus Sticker As “IRRITATION DEPARTMENT”? Find out the truth…
Fact Check By: Pavithra SandamaliResult: False
