Rickshaw driver sets example of honesty

It was around 11 in the morning of Thursday.

Like any other day, Firoz Mia was driving his rental battery-run auto-rickshaw from Mawna to Kewabazar on Sreepur road, hoping to get some passengers there.

He saw a bundle of money lying abandoned on the road near Mawna intersection.

The 37-year-old picked up the bundle and tried to find the owner, but nobody was around.

“I didn't even count the money,” Firoz said.

He decided to deposit the money with local trader Mujibur Rahman, owner of “Mayer Doa Tiles and Sanitary”.

“I thought it would be wise to deposit the money with him,” said Firoz, a resident of Sreepur's Kewa Akandabari area.

Mujibur later found out that there were 99 notes of Tk 1,000 and two notes of Tk 500 in the bundle.

Mujibur had written Firoz's phone number down before the latter left for work.

In the mean time, Abdul Mannan Shikder, son of Sreepur municipality, in a Facebook post said he lost Tk 1 lakh.

Driving a motorbike around 10:30am on Thursday, he was on his way to Exim Bank's Mawna branch to deposit the money. The money was in his trouser's pocket.

After reaching the bank, he realised that he lost the money. He searched everywhere, but in vein. 

He informed police about the matter and filed a written complaint with Sreepur police around 6:30pm.

As nobody contacted Mujibur till the afternoon, his son Mohsin along with Firoz went to the police station in the evening and handed over the money.

Helal Uddin, officer-in-charge (operations) of Sreepur Police Station, said upon receiving the money, they asked Mannan to visit the police station.

After verifying the ownership of the money, police gave the money to Mannan who awarded Firoz Tk 15,000 as a reward for his honesty.

Talking to this correspondent, Mannan said, “It gives me a sense of pride that people like Firoz live in this country.”

Firoz is from Netrakona's Kalmakanda upazila. He along with his wife Alpana Akter lives at a rented house in Kewa Akandabari area. The couple has two children, aged about seven and four.

To support her husband run the family, Alpana works at a local garment factory.