In 12 days, 1.6 lakh Lucknow households delivered respite

Rahul Tripathi | TNN | Updated: Apr 7, 2020, 16:31 IST

LUCKNOW: Home delivery boys, who are among the ones working in the frontline in fight against coronavirus, have delivered essential commodities at the doorstep of 1.6 lakh consumers during lockdown in last 12 days.
More than 10,000 people, including 8,000 delivery boys, are working in more than 70 outlets of 31 agencies which include retail and online supermarkets, e-commerce companies and online food delivery services. These outlets have been delivering goods at doorstep since March 26.

Family Bazar, run by UP government on PPP model, has so far catered to at least 10,565 customers with six stores and 100 employees.
TOI went to one of its stores at polytechnic crossing from where a team of 12, including 10 delivery boys, have attended to 3,000 customers so far. The store opens at 10am.
Employees said they sanitize themselves and their workplace before starting work. Packets of products are also sanitized before delivery.
Two managers, Ankur Dubey (28) and Ali Rizvi (29), take orders through phone and WhatsApp, prepare lists of individual orders and do billing before dispatch.
For first seven days, on an average, they received one call/message every 20 seconds, which has now come down to about 90 seconds.
“Initially, the demand was very high. We used to receive about 1,800 calls and messages in 10-hour duty. Now, as things have eased out, we are getting 400-450 calls/messages per day. We take orders and inform people about expected date of delivery,” Ali said.
The lists are handed over to delivery boys who prepare packages and get them billed. During billing, Ali and Ankur match products with lists again.
“Eight delivery boys move on bikes, each delivering to minimum 25 households daily. Two others, one on e-rickshaws and another on a taxi, deliver items to at least 50 houses daily,” said Ankur.
Similarly, other agencies are working round-the-clock to provide people with essentials during lockdown period.