Many Kolkatans have not been able to order groceries and other items from homes because a section of the delivery partners of Blinkit has been on a strike for the past two days to protest against an “arbitrary” pay cut.
Blinkit is an instant delivery platform which enables people to order groceries, fruits and vegetables and a host of other products — from mobile accessories to pet care. It was formerly called Grofers and acquired by Zomato earlier this year.
In Kolkata, the services have been allegedly disrupted in Ballygunge, Kasba, Dhakuria, Jadavpur, VIP Bazaar, Topsia, Picnic Garden, Bansdroni, Netaji Nagar, Behala, Park Street, Shyambazar, Lake Town and Baranagar, among other places.
“We are facing certain on-ground issues at the moment in the city and are grateful for the assistance local authorities have been able to provide,” said a Blinkit spokesperson.
“We are engaged in conversation with our delivery partners and want to make sure they have a pleasant festival season. We are confident we will be able to ramp up our services very soon,” the spokesperson added.
The problem areas of the gig economy started affecting Kolkatans earlier this year when a section of delivery partners of food delivery platforms went on a strike pressing for higher pay.
Since then, delivery partners across e-commerce platforms have stopped work more than once, the latest one coming when the city is gearing up for the biggest festival of the year.
People who tried to order through the Blinkit app on Tuesday and Wednesday got a common message — “Temporarily unavailable”.
The Telegraph talked to multiple protesting delivery partners across the city. Their main grouse — the base pay, or their share per order, has been reduced from Rs 50 to Rs 20.
The company has verbally communicated that the tweak will be implemented from October, said some of the partners.
Some others said they had already been bracketed in the new base price category.
“If I did 15 deliveries a day, I used to get Rs 750 under the old system. My expenses on fuel would be around Rs 200. Other expenses throughout the day would be around Rs 100. I would still be left with Rs 450. But under the new system, I will get Rs 300 for 15 orders. After other expenses, I would hardly have anything to take home,” said a delivery partner in Picnic Garden.
Over 100 striking partners assembled at a “hub” in Picnic Garden on Wednesday morning and stayed put till the afternoon.
A hub is a repository of the items to be delivered. The partners, once assigned an order, take the items from the hub and deliver them to the doorstep of customers. There are multiple such hubs across the city.
Another group assembled at a hub in Lake Town.
