KOCHI: The closure of restaurants and hotels in Kochi due to the non-availability of commercial LPG has had yet another ripple effect. Many gig workers engaged in food delivery were without enough runs to make these past two days.
“I have been working over 15 hours a day for the past two days. But to make 36 delivery runs, which opens the first door of incentives, is impossible. At best, I can do 18 or 20. This weekend, maybe 25,” Dilshad V S told TNIE.
In this line of work, incentives are everything, he said. “It is what makes spending a day out in the sun, on your two-wheeler, amidst the traffic chaos worth the effort,” Dilshad said. According to him, eateries, which had seen the most online delivery orders in the city heartland, are either shut or only limping on. “The crisis is real. Only a week ago, I was oblivious to the war. I thought it was far away, but it feels like it’s after me too,” he added.
A ping on his phone brought our conversation to a halt. Another order! “It’s from Dindigul Thalappakatti restaurant in Panampilly Nagar,” he said, pointing to an alert on the food delivery app. “These guys (Thalappakatti) are doing well. This is the third order from them today,” Dilshad said, before riding away.
Amid this LPG crisis, it is those outlets that can make food items in bulk, like biryani, or rely on firewood, like for mandi, that are doing okay. The rest have fallen back on serving only light snacks and tea/coffee, or have downed their shutters.
Elsewhere, outside Centre Square Mall on MG Road, Adarsh Gopinath, another gig worker, is considering calling it a day. It’s only 3.30pm, on a Saturday. “It’s not worth it. Because most outlets are shut or only serving a limited menu, the orders coming in on the app are so far apart. It’s not sustainable to be out in the summer heat. What little money I make is immediately spent on buying watermelon juices or other fluids. I might as well sit at home,” he said.
In any case, Adarsh is only a part-timer. “I’m a student. I do this to make some money on the side, cater to my needs of living in a big city like Kochi. From what I gather, so many part-timers like me have taken a break,” he said.
As to why, the LPG crisis is not the only reason, Adarsh highlighted. “It’s too hot nowadays. Also, many are students and they have exams this month,” he added.
MG Road was until only a few days ago a hive of activity, and Centre Square Mall and its vicinity was the de facto ‘resting point’ for many gig workers. However, when both stopped, the crisis turned “a double blow,” said ‘Bubloo’ Yadav, who runs a snacks wagons. However, the news that commercial LPGs will soon be made available to eateries buoys him.
