BENGALURU: Members of the United Food Delivery Partners’ Union on Wednesday appealed to the state government to announce a relief package for the food delivery partners in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Union President Vinay Sarathy told TNIE that even though the government declared food delivery services among essential services, many people decided to work because of their improper financial condition.
“We had demanded for a package for these workers who had worked even during the sudden lockdown last year. The government shot down our request last year too. This sector of workers have been neglected by the government.’
He added that during the current lockdown, many workers have returned to their hometowns and many others have been working under high risk conditions. A large number of them are feeding their families only from what they earn by delivering these orders as it is their full time job. This leaves their families also under high risk.The union has 1,000 registered partners under its umbrella in Bengaluru. Many partners are yet to join the union. They work with food delivery apps such as Swiggy and Zomato among others.
“Earlier, before lockdown-1, I used to earn at least Rs 2,500- Rs 3,000 a day. During lockdown-1 and post the lockdown, my earnings dropped to Rs 800- Rs 900 a day. Now, I earn not more than Rs 300 a day. Also if there is more than one order from the same area, while the customer is charged full service/ delivery charge, we partners get only a part of that amount. We have to bear fuel costs. The company takes the tips customers pay through the food delivery apps and we do not get anything,” said a delivery partner.