<p>The hike in the price of petrol will soon impact the livelihoods of thousands of gig workers in the city, more so given that aggregator platforms shirk responsibility and attempt to wash their hands of the welfare of these <br>workers. </p>.<p>With petrol now costing Rs 106 per litre in the city, gig workers are urging delivery platforms to ensure transparency.</p>.<p>“We delivery agents continue to remain the most uninformed within the whole quick commerce ecosystem. We have no access to the senior management, and they do not reach out to us to explain how they plan to handle any crisis. Even now, with the petrol hike, we are left to fend for ourselves,” said Tarun Kumar, a 33-year-old delivery agent, adding that while restaurants have the option of raising their prices to combat the LPG crisis, delivery agents have no avenue to demand higher pay. </p>.<p>As a result of the LPG crisis, many smaller restaurants no longer prioritise online orders, said delivery workers. “With limited LPG supply, they focus on dine-in customers, as that is a more reliable source of income. But because of this, we’re seeing a slow decline in the number of daily online orders. Before the crisis, I would complete 20-25 orders, on average, per day. I would constantly get orders. These numbers have now come down as I have to sometimes wait for more than an hour between two orders,” said Muzakir (48).</p>.Karnataka traders, transporters fear cascading effect of rise in fuel prices.<p>Delivery agents DH spoke to claimed a drop of 20% in monthly income in the last two months.</p>.<p>So far, the stability brought by the large-scale restaurants and chains has helped keep the gig workers afloat, said Vinay Sarathy, president, United Food Delivery Partners Union. “Because of these chain restaurants, night deliveries haven’t been impacted, and that has helped the gig workers,” he <br>added. </p>.<p>If the crisis worsens, the government must look into providing subsidies for gig workers, said Inayath Ali, president of Karnataka App-Based Workers Union and national vice-president of the Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers Union.</p>.<p>“With the dip in online orders, the delivery agents are already making less. Now, on top of that, if they have to shell out more from their pocket for petrol, without any aid from the companies, it will severely impact the livelihood of thousands,” he added. </p><p>A spokesperson at Ownly, Rapido’s food delivery platform, shared that while the LPG crisis had affected restaurants, “especially smaller players”, there had not been any direct impact observed on delivery partners on their day to day operations. </p><p>Swiggy and Zomato denied comment. </p>
<p>The hike in the price of petrol will soon impact the livelihoods of thousands of gig workers in the city, more so given that aggregator platforms shirk responsibility and attempt to wash their hands of the welfare of these <br>workers. </p>.<p>With petrol now costing Rs 106 per litre in the city, gig workers are urging delivery platforms to ensure transparency.</p>.<p>“We delivery agents continue to remain the most uninformed within the whole quick commerce ecosystem. We have no access to the senior management, and they do not reach out to us to explain how they plan to handle any crisis. Even now, with the petrol hike, we are left to fend for ourselves,” said Tarun Kumar, a 33-year-old delivery agent, adding that while restaurants have the option of raising their prices to combat the LPG crisis, delivery agents have no avenue to demand higher pay. </p>.<p>As a result of the LPG crisis, many smaller restaurants no longer prioritise online orders, said delivery workers. “With limited LPG supply, they focus on dine-in customers, as that is a more reliable source of income. But because of this, we’re seeing a slow decline in the number of daily online orders. Before the crisis, I would complete 20-25 orders, on average, per day. I would constantly get orders. These numbers have now come down as I have to sometimes wait for more than an hour between two orders,” said Muzakir (48).</p>.Karnataka traders, transporters fear cascading effect of rise in fuel prices.<p>Delivery agents DH spoke to claimed a drop of 20% in monthly income in the last two months.</p>.<p>So far, the stability brought by the large-scale restaurants and chains has helped keep the gig workers afloat, said Vinay Sarathy, president, United Food Delivery Partners Union. “Because of these chain restaurants, night deliveries haven’t been impacted, and that has helped the gig workers,” he <br>added. </p>.<p>If the crisis worsens, the government must look into providing subsidies for gig workers, said Inayath Ali, president of Karnataka App-Based Workers Union and national vice-president of the Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers Union.</p>.<p>“With the dip in online orders, the delivery agents are already making less. Now, on top of that, if they have to shell out more from their pocket for petrol, without any aid from the companies, it will severely impact the livelihood of thousands,” he added. </p><p>A spokesperson at Ownly, Rapido’s food delivery platform, shared that while the LPG crisis had affected restaurants, “especially smaller players”, there had not been any direct impact observed on delivery partners on their day to day operations. </p><p>Swiggy and Zomato denied comment. </p>