Lockdown:People demanding sweets,samosas on helpline
Lucknow: The 21-day nationwide lockdown which started on March 25 in an attempt to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus has kept people at homes. However, some netizens have been calling the helpline to satiate their cravings over 24X7 helpline set up a to provide emergency aid to needy by Uttar Pradesh government.
On Sunday, a man from Rampur in UP called up the police helpline to deliver four samosas ‘with chutney’ at his place. When the man made repeated calls, the cops took samosas for him. Once he finished the samosas, he was made to clean a drain for disturbing the officials during the lockdown. “We are receiving several calls on our helpline number in which people are asking for pizza and samosas. So, we have decided to punish such callers in order to discourage others who are taking advantage of the situation,” Rampur district magistrate Aunjaneya Kumar Singh said. Singh added that people have also called the helpline to ask for pizzas.
A Lucknow cop said that people have been calling for ‘paan’, pizza and even liquor. “One caller said that he was getting serious withdrawal symptoms because he did not get his quota of liquor. We asked him to call up a doctor instead,” the officer said. Kids have also called the helpline to ask for ice creams, pastries and even a football.
However, police helpline in Lucknow received an ‘urgent’ request for rasgullas from an elderly diabetic citizen on Monday. Ram Chandra Prasad Kesari, a widower, lives alone in his flat and his children live abroad. The diabetic man called up the helpline after his stock of sweets exhausted during the lockdown.
“Hearing the caller, we understood that it was not a prank. We reached the house of the caller, Ram Chandra Prasad Kesari, with six rasgullas. We found that the old man was alone at home and was in a condition of hypoglycemia (low sugar condition). He is diabetic and his face was pale. He could not move. We gave him rasgullas and he ate four of them after which he slowly became normal,” Santosh Singh, station house officer (SHO), Hazratganj, was quoted as saying by IANS. It is noted that Coronavirus cases in UP is on rise and administration doing every possible way to stop spreading of virus,but they are not getting support of people as much expected by them.Whereas acts like this will create hurdle for the actual needy person.