App-based food delivery aggregators resumed services on Wednesday evening after inspections and training was given to all employees on functioning during the curfew. The employees were also given face masks and hand sanitisers to ensure hygiene is maintained.
Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami had announced last week that the delivery services would be allowed as many residents, especially bachelors and the elderly who depend on it for cooked food.
However, fixed timings - 7 a.m. to 9.30 a.m., noon to 2.30 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. must be maintained by both Swiggy and Zomato.
The district administration in Tiruchi issued special identity cards for the delivery persons so that police personnel would allow them to travel across the city.
A representative of a popular vegetarian restaurant in Cantonment, which is said to receive the highest number of orders in the city, said that the orders were slowly picking up. “Regular users have begun placing orders since Wednesday night. The App is sending out notifications to inform users that food is now available,” he said. “We are also not allowing the delivery persons inside our kitchen and have set up a delivery area near the entrance from where they can pick up the order”, he said.
Zomato has introduced a special feature, which declares whether the restaurant complies with the norms laid out by the WHO on personal distancing and hygiene. “Only a handful of restaurants have volunteered to stay open. Among them, more than half comply with the required standards. We are also constantly checking on whether the standards are being met or not,” a representative of Zomato said. The Apps are also providing ‘contact-less delivery’ where, if opted, the delivery person will leave the bag of food at the customer’s door step. This service is available for prepaid deliveries. G. Renganathan, president, Tiruchi District Hotels Assn., said that the number of orders and the number of restaurants which are open are significantly low.
“ Some people depend on hotel food. They have allowed us to open keeping them in mind,” he said.
Moreover, most people, are afraid of purchasing from the delivery services and prefer home cooked food at this time, he added.
