'Workers don't have religion': Mumbai dabbawalas slam Zomato customer who refused delivery by Muslim

Subhash Talekar, spokesperson of the 5,000-member dabbawala association, said the delivery executive of Zomato was doing his job to earn livelihood.
Mumbai dabbawalas ferry tiffins of home-cooked food to thousands of office-goers in the city every day. (Photo | Wikimedia Commons/Joe Zachs)
Mumbai dabbawalas ferry tiffins of home-cooked food to thousands of office-goers in the city every day. (Photo | Wikimedia Commons/Joe Zachs)

MUMBAI: The Mumbai Dabbawala Association, which represents the city's famed tiffin-carriers or dabbawalas, on Thursday slammed the Zomato customer from Jabalpur who refused to take delivery from a "non-Hindu".

A Jabalpur-based customer of the food aggregator firm took to Twitter two days ago to claim that he cancelled an order because the delivery person assigned to him was Muslim.

Subhash Talekar, spokesperson of the 5,000-member dabbawala association, said the delivery executive of Zomato was doing his job to earn livelihood.

"What would have this customer done if he had been very hungry and person of another faith had brought him food?" he asked.

"We condemn his act of cancelling order just because the delivery boy belonged to another religion. The delivery person may be Hindu or Muslim, he does he job for livelihood. Such workers do not have religion," Talekar said in a statement.

A case should be registered against the Zomato customer, he said.

There are people of all faiths among dabbawallas of Mumbai, Talekar added.

"Our customers include Parsis in Colaba, Walkeshwar and Gaondevi, Muslims in Bhendi Bazar and Mohammed Ali Road, Catholics in Byculla and Jains in Kalbadevi and Jhaveri Bazar," he said.

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