BHUBANESWAR: Online food delivery platform Swiggy has curtailed its services in the Capital city as its delivery partners have gone on a strike for the last one week seeking immediate restoration of their incentives.
The delivery executives of the firm too are demanding an increase in payout per order. The delivery partners alleged that the incentive they were being given for delivering food was stopped after the outbreak of the pandemic.
“In June last year, after a formal complaint was lodged in this regard with Chandrasekharpur police, a meeting of Swiggy officials and delivery partners was held where we were assured that the issue will be resolved soon. However, seven months have passed but we are yet to be paid the monthly incentive of Rs 3,000 which works out to around Rs 21,000. Besides, the incentives due prior to July 2020 have also not been cleared,” claimed one of the delivery partners.
Swiggy has around 800 delivery partners in the city. They said though the price of petrol has gone up, their usual payout per order (delivery fee), paid on per kilometre basis remains unchanged.
“We are being paid Rs 4 per km at present which is very less. We have demanded that the payout be increased to minimum Rs 8 per km,” the delivery partner said.
Swiggy officials said monthly incentives are tied to the total orders delivered in a month.
“Most delivery partners in Bhubaneswar make over Rs 40 per order, translating to more than Rs 8 per km. In fact, the highest performing partners make up to Rs 100 per order. These are at par with what they made pre-Covid and with industry standards,” a company statement said.