One Year of Lockdown: How these delivery personnel survived the pandemic

The COVID19 induced lockdown in 2020 shut most business establishments including eateries as people were afraid of venturing out to grab a bite While the restaurants struggled to stay afloat food delivery apps such as Zomato and Swiggy were serving thousands of customers in Mumbai The lockdown evoked mixed response from the delivery staff while some delivery executives returned to their hometowns despite facing financial difficulties others stayed back and made deliveries amidst the threat of the virusMidDay online spoke to few delivery executives from Swiggy and Zomato and asked them about how they survived the lockdownlsquoMy earnings dropped by 50 per centrsquoArun P Kumar PicKartik BhardwajArun P Kumar 24 has been working as a Swiggy delivery partner in Mumbai for the past two years The Khar resident decided not to go back to his hometown in Uttar Pradeshrsquos Mirzapur and kept on making deliveries even as the cases were mountingldquoAs people were wary of eating from outside our orders decreased Earlier I used to earn about Rs 6000 to Rs 7000 a week which dropped to Rs 2000 to Rs 3000rdquo said KumarApart from the decline in earnings making deliveries during the lockdown was difficult amid the looming threat of contacting the virus Kumar said ldquo The police stopped me too but let go after realising I was making deliveries Housing societies were a bit wary and I had to leave the order downstairs There were temperature checks too at many apartments All this while I was scared of getting infected toordquo added the delivery executivelsquoI resumed work and suffered paralysis while on dutyrsquoGanesh Parab 30 worked as a Zomato food delivery partner When the lockdown was implemented on March 22 2020 he decided to take a break and stayed at home which he shares with her mother who works in the private sector Once the situation eased he resumed work but suffered a paralytic attack while on duty and was left bedriddenldquoOn June 1 I was out making deliveries Suddenly I felt sick and stopped my motorcycle I had convulsions in my body I left the bike there and took an auto back to my home in Chembur The doctors said I had suffered partial paralysis I am getting treated but most of our money went in paying hospital billsrdquo he saidlsquoCompany froze my id for two monthsrsquoChandan Kumar Pic Kartik BhardwajChandan Kumar 28 a rider with Swiggy left for his hometown in Uttar Pradeshrsquos Jaunpur on March 20 last year just two days before the lockdown was implemented With a family of 10 members including four younger sisters two of whom are studying it was tough to pay for their college fees but they somehow managed said Kumar He took up a job as a MGNREGA worker back home to contribute to the house budget Once the restrictions eased he returned to Mumbai in September only to realise that his work id was frozen by his employer and was only resumed in DecemberldquoI did apply for leaves when I left When I came back I realised Swiggy had locked my work id and I wasnrsquot able to take orders Due to the glitch I had to take up another job in Bhayandar at a sticker manufacturing company which paid less Although my id was resumed in December the number of orders were still less and my earnings fell about 50 per centrdquo said Kumar