Narayanganj district administration compensated an elderly man, whom it humiliated for dialling 333 seeking food aid being “rich enough”, with the amount it had fined him.
The elderly man Fariduddin Ahmed, 60, called the government hotline 333 for food assistance.
However, he was charged with fraudulence by the Upazilla Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Narayanganj Sadar as he supposedly owned a four-storeyed house.
The UNO also forced him to provide food aid to 100 people instead of getting help as fine.
Narayanganj UNO Arifa Zahura instructed him to distribute food items like rice, potatoes, pulses, salt etc. among 100 people.
The news sparked off lots of discussion and criticism on social media.
However, the district administration said that “misunderstandings” led to his harassment.
Mostain Billah, Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Narayanganj, told The Business Post, "Fariduddin has been compensated by the upazila administration following a detailed inquiry into his family and he was given Tk 60,000 in compensation against his penalty expenditure of Tk 57,000.”
The old man could not explain his problem to the UNO as he was even unable to speak properly since he suffered a brain stroke. He also has a disabled son, the DC added.
Fariduddin Ahmed used to work as a cutting master in a local hosiery factory and received Tk 8,000 a month for monitoring the workers in that factory. His 18-year-old son is physically challenged.
One of his daughters is currently studying for graduation and another got married, the deputy commissioner said adding that sexagenarian Fariduddin had three strokes and he was neither in a position to get food aid nor rich enough to pay the financial penalty.
The properties belonging to him also created confusion, giving a notion of being rich.
He said to The Business Post, “Actually, he built a four-storeyed building with his six brothers and one sister on ancestral land. But he huddles together with his wife and two grown-up children in merely two corrugated-sheet-roofed rooms on the fourth floor.”
