Delivery staffers ensure supply of essentials during the lockdown

An army of volunteers and delivery boys are on the move to deliver provisions, medicines, vegetables and other necessities during the lockdown

April 25, 2020 04:55 pm | Updated April 27, 2020 12:47 pm IST - Thiruvananthapuram

Food delivery boys are busy during the lockdown imposed in the wake of COVID-19 epidemic

Food delivery boys are busy during the lockdown imposed in the wake of COVID-19 epidemic

Harikrishnan S is on his way to a pharmacy near Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram to collect a medicine and hand it over to a patient near Attingal, 29 km away, in the district.

A volunteer with the Kerala State Youth Welfare Board since the lockdown was enforced to curb the spread of Coronavirus, Hari has been on the move to help residents cope with the lockdown. “Later, I have to pick up a medicine from the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) and give it to another volunteer at Venjaramoodu. It is for a cancer patient in Kottayam and our network of volunteers in different districts will reach him the medicine. Recently, I was part of such an inter-district chain when I took the medicine from Attingal till Kaliyikkavila on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border for another cancer patient,” says the 22-year-old.

Harikrishan S is a volunteer with the Kerala State Youth Welfare Board

Harikrishan S is a volunteer with the Kerala State Youth Welfare Board

The work of volunteers like Hari are synergised by a district coordinator of the volunteers. When the lockdown was announced, 10 volunteers operated in the Corporation limits alone. Now five of them are on the move. In addition, there are volunteers in panchayats as well. They all are part of the Youth Action Force under the Welfare Board that has 400 trained volunteers.

With home delivery being excluded from the lockdown, delivery personnel have been at the frontline to keep the city ticking. Hotels, homechefs, retail and wholesale shops, fish and meat stores, medical shops, vegetables and fruits outlets… depend on the delivery staff to keep their businesses running and ensure that customers’ demands are met.

Many of the volunteers have emergency passes issued by the District Collectorate to permit them to move around, others carry affidavits and identity cards. Masks and sanitisers are mandatory while some wear gloves as well. Also, unlike volunteers who do delivery for free, those who work for app-based delivery services earn an income.

Essential services

Now that food delivery platforms such as Zomato and Swiggy have started delivering groceries, essential items and vegetables and fruits of Horticorp, those delivering essentials have their hands full with their timings from 7 am to 8 pm.

Anoop A

Anoop A

“My first order by 11 am is usually for vegetables from Horticorp’s outlet at Poojappura since I operate on that stretch. I started this work two weeks before the lockdown and it has been a smooth affair till now. At times the police stops me to ensure whether I am wearing a mask and to check the goods I am carrying,” says 25-year-old Anoop A working with a food-delivery app.

Since they are not allowed to enter apartments, either they leave the order with the security or customers come down to collect their orders. With several customers opting for zero-contact delivery, the staff place the item at the doorstep, click a photo and upload on the app. “Unless we upload the photo, the delivery is not considered complete and we can’t take our next order. Now we also take orders from one location to another, mainly medicines and grocery. Recently I delivered eggs from a customer to their aged parents staying in another house,” says Jeevan SR, who works for Swiggy in and around Pattom. Besides food from hotels, he has been doing home delivery service for retail shops in the area such as Big Bazaar and Ramachandran.

He adds that delivery boys from those zones where hotels and shops are not functioning have now moved to areas such as Pattom, Peroorkkada, Kowdiar and Kuravankonam where more shops are open.

Yadhu Ajikumar is a delivery boy who works for homechefs

Yadhu Ajikumar is a delivery boy who works for homechefs

Homechefs too are dependent on these ‘transporters’. Yadhu Ajikumar, 23, who has been working for two homechefs in the city, says that from 11.30 am to 2 pm, he delivers biriyanis from Sreekariyam to different places in the city and in the afternoon he work for a homebaker in Sreekandeswaram.

At Thanal’s organic bazaar at Jawahar Nagar it is the five male staff members who take turns to deliver organic produce across the city. While specific routes have been fixed for each day, there are occasions when they have to change it depending on the availability of the vegetables. “Number of customers has increased post the lockdown. We send the list of items available on that particular day to our customers in the morning via WhatsApp. Delivery is between 2 pm and 5 pm. We insist on digital transaction as much as possible and ensure contactless delivery,” says Deepak R, a staffer with Thanal. He adds that the shop does not insist on minimum purchase amount and doesn’t charge delivery charges.

The traffic-less road is a welcome relief for them. “But the flipside is that there has been a dent in income. Nevertheless I am relieved that I have an avenue to earn something during the lockdown,” says Unni VR, who works with a food-delivery app.

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