Dhaka South City Corp CEO under fire for sprinkling cash among the poor

The chief executive officer of Dhaka South City Corporation has come under heavy criticism after sprinkling money towards people seeking aid a week into the general holidays due to the coronavirus.

As part of a DSCC initiative amid the shutdown to halt the spread of the pandemic, CEO Shah Md Imdadul Haque went to the capital’s Science Laboratory locality to provide aid to the poor people on Tuesday.

The crowd grew larger and stumbled over onto Imdadul and he got into his car to avoid the gathering.

Images showed people surrounding his car and him throwing cash into the air. This created a rush among the aid-seeking crowd as they all scrambled to gather the scattered money.

The government has announced nationwide general holidays as a preventive measure against the outbreak of the virus, leaving a great number of people jobless. Dhaka South City Corporation took steps to provide aid to the people who have seen their income stream dry up.

Imdadul’s actions were subject to heavy criticism on social media.

Fardeen Notes, a broadcast journalist, posted photos of the incident on his Facebook and said, “Dhaka South City Corporation’s Chief Executive Officer Shah Md Imdadul Haque throwing money on the street. Poor, hungry people are picking it up with all the stops out. Our British Colonial brains absolutely love such feudalist behaviour. If you don’t like it, you are not human and against humanity.”

bdnews24.com tried to reach Imdadul over his mobile phone but the calls went unanswered.

DSCC Mayor Md Sayeed Khokon said he was unaware of the incident and that it came to his attention after images were shared on social media.

He insisted that the CEO’s intention was good.

“He went there for a good cause. But the place got crowded and it became unmanageable. It may have happened due to that.”