Bengaluru traffic cops to crack down on speeding delivery boys

In a potential setback to the booming instant commerce industry, police say they will crack down on delivery boys racing to hand over packages in 10 minutes or less.

"We will soon start issuing them notices," traffic police chief B R Ravikanthe Gowda told DH. "The problem has become too serious to be ignored."

Gowda was referring to delivery boys breaking rules to meet the tight deadlines. According to him, driving on the wrong side, on the footpath, rashly and speeding are the most common violations.

The police have held meetings with representatives of e-tailers and warned them against the dangers of instant commerce. "Delivery boys suffer from low concentration levels. We made it clear that they should be given at least 15 minutes more to deliver packages," Gowda explained.

Kuldeep Kumar Jain, deputy commissioner of police (Traffic, West), says delivery boys commit all the "riskier and life-threatening" traffic violations, the most common being jumping the signal.

"They basically take all the shortcuts to save time and distance. We cannot stand by when these things are happening," he said. The situation is so serious that the police are holding special drives every week to clamp down on speeding delivery boys, he added.

The assertion by the traffic police comes even as more and more companies join the instant commerce race. Swiggy Instamart, Zepto, Blinkit and Dunzo already promise hyper-quick deliveries. Ola Dash has also joined the bandwagon while Zomato is on the way.

Zepto and Swiggy Instamart said their delivery partners were neither shown the promised delivery time nor were incentivised or penalised for keeping or missing deadlines.

A spokesperson for Zepto said the company has "not received any advisory or directive from the police" on the dangers of instant commerce.

Asked about traffic violations, the spokesperson said: "We have recorded significantly lower traffic violations on average, compared to other e-commerce platforms."

On accidents, he said: "After doing millions of deliveries in Bengaluru, we have had zero serious accidents to this day."

Gautham G, Zepto's store manager in Hennur, said that since their delivery boys covered "very short distances", they hardly broke traffic rules.

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