Video shows children ‘working’ on rly track in Lucknow; rly denies

An official letter by the senior section engineer of NER said when the site was visited, it was found that coins of some children had fallen while they were crossing the railway track which they were searching for

A video of some children working on a railway track near Lucknow’s Gomti Nagar station went viral on Sunday provoking outrage across social media and prompting railways to issue a statement clarifying that the children shown in the video were looking for their coins instead.

A screen grab from the viral video showing children on the railway track in Lucknow. (Sourced)

The undated 22-second viral video purportedly shows a few men doing maintenance work on the track near Mithaiwala Chauraha and with them 4-5 children are also sitting and picking up stones from the track.

A complaint about the matter was made to the officials, including railway minister Ashwani Vaishnaw, through social media. After the video went viral, the North Eastern Railway (NER) issued a statement saying that the children’s coins had fallen on the tracks which they were picking up.

An official letter by the senior section engineer of NER said when the site was visited and information was gathered, it was found that coins of some children had fallen while they were crossing the railway track which they were searching for.

“This makes it clear that the children were not working. The claim made in the video is false. Apart from the railway employees, no one was working there. Nor was anyone making the children work,” the letter read.