The outbreak of coronavirus COVID-19 and the nationwide lockwide announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to curb the spread of deadly virus have proved to be a fertile breeding ground for different types of fake news and misinformation.


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One such fake news which is viral these days claims that the Central government has increased the office work hours for its employees to 10 hours daily and they will have to work from 9 am till 7 pm in office.


But there is no truth in this claim and state-run Prasar Bharati News Services on Saturday (May 2) clarified that the widely circulating message on WhatsApp and other social media platform is fake and fradulent. The government’s official fact-checker, PIB Fact Check, stressed that he central government has not made any such decision and also such proposal is not even under consideration.



Few days ago, a report had claimed that the Government was planning to cut allowances like LTA, leave encashment, medical etc of central government employees. The Centre had denied having any such plan. “There is no proposal for any cut in various allowances including LTC, leave encashment during LTC or Leave encashment on retirement, OTA and medical reimbursement, as admissible under the existing orders, has either been considered or under contemplation at present. These payments will be continued to be paid as per existing norms,” the Finance Ministry had said


It may be recalled that the PIB has set up a dedicated unit in order to check the spread of fake news on social media during the coronavirus crisis, ‘PIBFactCheck’ team continuously monitors trending messages on social media platforms and conducts review of its contents to bust fake news.