‘Dial 333 for food assistance’

Star Online Report

The government has launched a national hotline, 333, for providing humanitarian assistance and food to the needy during the nationwide shutdown amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The service was launched on April 5.

The hotline has already received over 5,000 calls in the last two days, said Anir Chowdhury, policy adviser of the Access to Information (a2i) Programme of the Prime Minister’s Office.

He made the comments while attending an online discussion, “E-commerce calls in the service of humanity”, organised by the E-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) today to celebrate e-commerce day.

Earlier, the government used the short code to disseminate necessary information among people.

 “After the inception of the short code, we began receiving calls from people who had no food. Immediately, the calls were transferred to the respective Upazila Nirbahi Officers (UNO) who took immediate steps to send them relief,” said Chowdhury.

Without any publicity, the short code is getting huge response while local administrations are addressing the callers’ needs, he said.

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi, Post and Telecommunication Minister Mustafa Jabbar, ICT secretary NM Zeaul Alam, among others, also took part in today’s discussions.

“We are in a tough situation in terms of running trade and commerce as coronavirus has put a restriction on everything. E-commerce can play a vital role in this regard,” Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said.