Now, excise registration must for food delivery executives

Thiruvananthapuram: After observing a new trend in which the drug mafia uses online food delivery business as a cover for drug peddling, the excise department has decided to introduce a system to keep the delivery executives under check.
The food delivery executives will now be made to register their names with the excise department, irrespective of which company they worked for.
The decision has been taken in the wake of recent incidents reported in Kochi, where food delivery executives were caught peddling drugs. TOI had carried a series of reports in this regard.
The department will also issue them identity cards, which they are bound to wear around the neck while on duty and are bound to show it to law enforcers whenever they are stopped for checking.
Excise commissioner Rishi Raj Singh said that the department has already held talks with leading firms running the food delivery business and apprised them of the initiative. Senior department officials met the representatives of the firms in Kochi.
“We have also given them ten days to furnish complete list of their delivery boys. Once we receive the list, we will peruse their background and issue them identity cards,” Singh said. He also said that he held talks with state police chief too in this regard. The DGP has agreed to instruct his officers to check food delivery agents too during vehicle inspections.
“Until now, food delivery executives have been enjoying so many liberties. They enjoy free entry at places, including offices and apartments, without being examined. Law enforcers too often avoided them during vehicle inspections because we did not want people to wait for their food. But, recent cases prove that these liberties are being exploited,” the excise commissioner said.
Around three weeks ago, during a vehicle inspection by excise officials near Kalamukku in Kochi, an online food delivery executive fled without stopping despite being signalled to stop. The officials saw him throw away a parcel during the chase.
They recovered it and found around 500 grams of ganja in the packet. The youth is yet to be arrested. Following this incident, the law enforcers intensified the vigil and as a result, arrested a 27-year-old youth a few days ago, with 500 grams of hashish.
The accused, Nikesh, hailing from Perinthalamanna in Malappuram, was using the mobile phone and vehicle of his friend, who worked as an online food delivery executive, to deliver the contraband.
While such cases are yet to be reported in Thiruvananthapuram, there had been instances of criminal behaviour reported here. This include a 22-year-old delivery boy getting caught for drunk driving while on duty and another delivery executive resorting to reckless driving and knocking down a woman two-wheeler rider and her daughter after his vehicle rammed their scooter.