Stretched working hours, target pressure force food delivery boys to take risks

KOLKATA: The accident involving a food delivery boy at New Town has made industry stakeholders look in to the welfare of these staff. While the Bidhannagar police has called an emergency meeting, the state has also indicated that it might hold its own rounds of discussions.

Talking to a cross section of delivery boys across Kolkata, TOI came to know about a work environment that demands excess working hours, taking risks to achieve targets and a fast-crunching profit base with new entrants joining the industry each day.

Apart from the incentives, the working hours also vary — between 10 and 12 hours daily. A delivery boy is allowed to carry a maximum of two orders. Carrying a food packet in the first three kilometres earns them between Rs 35 and Rs

50. Between four and the five kilometres, the incentive goes up to Rs 80-Rs 95. Between six and the maximum permissible eight kilometres, the incentive amount is Rs 100-Rs 125.

Swiggy, whose employee Sariful Sekh met with an accident two days ago and is still on ventilation, said they never forced an individual to go beyond his capacity.

Most companies insist delivery partners have the liberty to log in and log out as per their convenience. Swiggy, for example, engages with its delivery partners on a principal-to-principal basis. A Zomato spokesperson insisted they hold special traffic awareness programmes and offer financial aid to any accident victim besides the medical insurance cover he is entitled to.

UberEats is so far offering a minimum payment structure irrespective of daily delivery performance. “Our partners don’t have to stay logged in for a stipulated period every day,” said an official.

Raju Koyal of Kasba used to take it as a healthy competition till his first year of work. “Now, the extra earning pressure haunts me 24 by 7. I hate to work extra hours but the peer pressure of earning more does not let me call it a day,” he added. On an average, a food delivery boy in Kolkata earns around Rs 500 a day, excluding fuel expenses. “If we work for around 24-25 days in a month and earn regular bonus or incentives, we can take approximately Rs 13,000-Rs 15,000 home,” said Pradip Srivastava, a delivery boy.

Interestingly, apart from handing over rule book and making delivery staff sign a contract, no official paper is reportedly given by the firms. “Most of the boys are happy receiving weekly or monthly money transfers. They don’t usually enquire about other benefits,” said Nalin Kundu, leader of delivery boys at Kidderpore. The firms, though, said photographs were being uploaded on individual profiles and customers have all details of the men visiting their homes.