NEW DELHI: Deluged by Twitter and other social media websites, the Government today apologised for the mistake in the picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aerial survey over flooded Chennai caused by what it called “photoshopping” by merging two pictures “due to error of judgement.”

The photo had shown Modi looking out of the helicopter at very clear view of flooded houses in residential areas, which was not possible from a helicopter at the height at which it was said to be flying over the southern metro that has seen the worst rainfall since 1918.

The photograph was removed as soon as the error was realised, a senior official of the Press Information Bureau told Indiantelevision.com.

The photo was one of seven, which had been released on the PIB Twitter handle and PIB’s website last evening. 

“PIB regrets the release of the picture. Inconvenience caused is regretted,” a post on the PIB website said.

Modi had made an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas of Chennai, its suburbs and Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur districts. He arrived from Delhi at naval working station INS Rajali in Arakkonam, about 60 km from Chennai.

In fact, the photoshopped image is still appearing on many Twitter handles, raising several questions since private media is often not allowed to accompany the PM on such aerial surveys.

The faux pas led to a large number of comments and cast a shadow on the reliability of official media.