HYDERABAD: There was severe unrest among hundreds of delivery executives working for the major food delivery service provider Swiggy on Monday, following the death of a delivery boy in a road accident on Sunday.
The accident sparked tension among the executives who hung up their bike keys and refused to deliver food orders on Monday morning. Demanding the company to pay compensation to the family of the deceased according to the norms of labour laws, they placed their long pending demand of increase in their delivery charges. This agitation caused inconvenience to several consumers who placed food orders on Monday. Around 400 delivery executives took part in this protest.
Amar Rabha, 22, and a native of Assam, working in the city as a food delivery boy with Swiggy, died in a road accident on Sunday early morning, while returning after delivering the food order, near the Nallagandla flyover, Chanda Nagar, BHEL. Saddened by his death, around 400 delivery boys protested by refusing to deliver any food order, which was assigned to them on Monday morning.
They demanded compensation to the family of the deceased and to hike the minimum base pay to Rs 35 which is now Rs 20, to increase the batch order to from Rs 10 to Rs 20, reintroduction of monthly incentives, increase in distance pay from existing Rs 6 to Rs 12 per kilometre and to stop assigning the order to third parties like Shadowfox or Rapido.
The charges paid to the Swiggy delivery boys are, within the nine hours 45 minutes of compulsory login, for 32 deliveries Rs 1900, 23 deliveries Rs 1200, and 16 deliveries Rs 800. Many delivery boys work till late hours to complete 32 deliveries, engaging themselves for 24 hours.
Telangana Gig and Platform Workers' Union, which supported this boycott, said, companies should take the responsibility for such incidents and extend their help immediately.
Aitharaju Mahesh, a Swiggy delivery boy, said “Many accidents are happening to delivery boys. Some 20 days ago, a delivery boy met with an accident at Kothapet. He suffered grievous injuries and the hospital bill was more than Rs 6,00,000, but as the insurance company paid only Rs 1 lakh, the family had to borrow money from somewhere to pay the bills. The company should take care of such bills. When such incidents take place, we are on the receiving end.”
According to Chanda Nagar police inspector, K. Kastro, “Around 4 am, near Nallagandla flyover, the delivery boy travelling in a Scooty, skidded from a bike at a sharp turn, falling head on. Back of his head got injured, and he was rushed to the hospital, where he died.”
Ahmed Mohiuddin, a Swiggy delivery boy, Tarnaka Zone, said, “In heavy city traffic, each delivery should be made in a span of 45 minutes, from the time we receive the order. We have to reach that food joint and wait for the food parcel, and then ride to the assigned place, deliver it to the customer, and as the watch moves closer to the 45-minute mark, we get tense. We increase the speed of the bike. If we fail to reach on time, we will be penalised, by pushing us into inferior levels.”
