On Monday, certain areas of Chennai experienced disruptions in the delivery of food and groceries via online applications due to a strike initiated by gig workers who were advocating for improved pay and working conditions.
“For more than eight years, we continue to receive only around 5 for every kilometre we travel to deliver food. Besides this, the online apps, particularly Swiggy, has cut down incentives, communication and our travel allowances,” said Ramakrishna, General Secretary of food delivery employees wing of CITU.
In addition, there were reports of online apps providing false information regarding the distance between hotels and delivery points. For instance, while the app would indicate a 5 km distance, the actual distance could be more than 7 km. Despite complaints being lodged, fleet managers were observed to be unresponsive in resolving these issues, as per the source.
According to CITU, over 85% of the registered delivery partners abstained from work on Monday, and the protest will persist until Swiggy addresses their concerns. Even the delivery partners who were working refused to take orders due to the disrupted vehicular movement caused by the AIADMK protests. Consequently, consumers experienced delays of at least 45 to 60 minutes in receiving their lunch.
“Even after paying the surge fee of 35, the order reached us late,” said Sneha, a resident of Porur.
In response to numerous inquiries regarding delays, several restaurants decided to go offline after 12 noon. For example, in and around T Nagar, only 260 eateries were accessible for delivery on Monday afternoon. Typically, this locality offers a selection of over 380 restaurants for consumers to choose from.
Acknowledging the trouble, Swiggy in its official statement said, “There are some delays in deliveries reported in certain parts of Chennai. Our team on ground is actively working to resolve this. We are confident that our services will be normalised soon”.
Efforts to reach out to Zomato for comments proved unsuccessful.