A photo shared by the official Twitter handle of DM Rampur.

In the middle of a nation-wide lockdown to contain the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus, the Uttar Pradesh government has set up an emergency helpline to aid in the supply of medicines and other essentials. However, when one man began to call the COVID-19 helpline asking for samosas, authorities decided to deliver the snack to him - along with a tough lesson.

A tweet by Rampur District Magistrate Aunjaneya Kumar Singh that is currently going viral online reveals what happened when the man, even after being warned, continued to call the helpline demanding samosas - he was made to clean drains as part of his punishment.

"After warnings, we had to deliver samosas to him," wrote the Rampur District Magistrate in Hindi from his official Twitter handle. "For troubling the control room with non-essential needs, the man was also made to clean drains," he revealed, sharing a photo which shows the man at work with a broom in hand.

The tweet has collected nearly 20,000 'likes' on the microblogging platform, along with many replies praising the unique step.

Bahut khoob 👏👏 — Dilip Jain | #StayHome 🇮🇳 (@dilipjain1979) March 30, 2020

In a following tweet, the District Magistrate also requested people to help authorities as responsible citizens and stay in during the lockdown.

नाली साफ कर सामाजिक कार्य में योगदान देकर प्रशासन को सहयोग देते व्यवस्था का दुरुपयोग करने वाले व्यक्ति।

राष्ट्रीय आपदा के समय आप सभी का सहयोग प्रार्थनीय है।

जिम्मेदार नागरिक बनें।

स्वस्थ रहें। सुरक्षित रहें। pic.twitter.com/4vMMp97OLp — DM Rampur (@DeoRampur) March 29, 2020

All non-essential services have been suspended as part of the nation-wide lockdown till April 14. Domestic flight operations have also been suspended to prevent coronavirus from spreading.

Technically called the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 or SARS-CoV-2, this novel coronavirus causes the COVID-19 disease. It has so far infected more than a 1,000 people in India.

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