'Curious' Narayanganj businessman calls national hotline 333 for food. Now, he must feed 100 poor families as punishment

A man who owns a four-storey building and a hosiery factory in Narayanganj has been rapped by the authorities for 'harassing' government officials by calling the emergency hotline 333 to seek food assistance reserved for people affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Sadar Upazila UNO Arifza Zohra discovered the matter after she arrived at Deobhog in Kashipur to provide food to the man, identified as Farid Ahmed, on Thursday afternoon.

A mobile court subsequently ordered Farid to provide 100 low-income people with food as a punishment.

Farid will now have to distribute more than 1,500 kg of food items among the poor. He claims that he called the emergency service hotline to 'satisfy his curiosity'.

The UNO will distribute the food aid to the 100 poor families on Friday.

"The government launched the national helpline, 333, for citizens struggling to cope with the impacts of the shutdown over the coronavirus outbreak. The upazila administration officials deliver food to people's homes upon receiving calls on the hotline," Zohra said.

"The Kashipur resident made a call to us seeking food assistance on Wednesday. I myself went to his home to deliver the food. But I discovered that the man has a four-story building and a factory."

"I made the call just for no reason. It was a mistake," the man told Johra after she reached his home with the food assistance.

"Food assistance is delivered to people just a day after they called on the national hotline. But many people make calls for no reason and it's just not well," Zohra said.