Online food delivery platform Zomato has promised reforms after a woman in Delhi called the company's emergency helpline for riders a "joke". Taking to X (formerly Twitter), user Anjali came forward with serious allegations against Zomato, claiming the company demonstrated negligence during a crisis involving a severely injured delivery executive. In a series of posts, she criticised the company's emergency helpline as ineffective and urged Zomato to recognise their riders as workers deserving of support formally. "Any emergency helpline for Zomato riders is a joke. There is no mechanism," she wrote.
Ms Anjali said she witnessed two cars hitting the Zomato rider in Delhi's Chanakyapuri area. The delivery agent was on an electric scooter and his arm was "badly injured" in the accident. Some people and two other Zomato executives came to his aid while the cars sped away. She said she stopped to help the unconscious rider and called Zomato's helpline using his phone, however, "no one answered".
The rider regained consciousness after some time and started sobbing. "The other two riders who had stopped by tried to contact the emergency helpline via their phones & surprise, surprise, no one responded again," Ms Anjali wrote.
The X user then finally called the Police Control Room (PCR) and after 10 minutes, someone picked up and promised to send cops to the site of the accident. However, by that time, the delivery agent started getting complaints from the customers whose food he was supposed to deliver. Ms Anjali said she called the customers from the rider's phone but they did not respond. She also texted them explaining the situation but they must have filed a complaint because a few minutes later, the Zomato service centre started calling the rider and demanding an explanation for the delay.
"I explained to them the situation but it just confirms the joke that riders are for Zomato," Ms Anjali wrote. She also said that the rider received a call from Zomato's emergency helpline later, but by that time, police had already taken him to a hospital for treatment.
Ms Anjali slammed the food delivery platform and its claims of training its riders in CPR. "Anyone who studies the gig economy (even if not study it carefully) fully understands that the riders are invisible to the top leaders.Don't be fooled by their celebratory tweets & posts. They brag about giving CPR training to their riders but when their riders are left injured in the middle of the road or face any problems, there is absolutely no support mechanism," she wrote.
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"Instead of training them & boasting about it, GIVE THEM PROPER HEALTHCARE & COMPENSATION. THEY AREN'T SOFTWARES. THEY ARE THE REASON YOU EARN obnoxiously high profits, @zomato @zomatocare @deepigoyal & people running big gig platforms should be held accountable for not providing any social security to their WORKERS. RECOGNISE THEM AS WORKERS, GIVE THEM WORKERS RIGHTS & STOP WITH THE 'PARTNER' BULLSHIT ALREADY!!!" she said.
Zomato responded to Ms Anjali's post a few hours later, expressing concern over the situation. The company also acknowledged the gaps in its support mechanism for delivery partners and provided an update on his condition.
"Hi Anjali, it is heartening to see the effort you took to ensure the safety and due care for our delivery partner. Thank you for your kindness. Our teams have been in touch with the delivery partner, Lalan and his family since we learnt about this tragic incident. We are glad to share that he is safe with no major injuries. Doctors have advised him rest and care for the next few days," Zomato wrote.
The company further also said that the safety and wellbeing of the delivery partners is "utmost priority". "All our delivery partners are covered under our Health Insurance policy, including IPD/ hospitalisation and daycare with coverage upto INR 1 lac," Zomato wrote.
"Lastly, Anjali, we understand that our SOS process could have been better. We are making changes to ensure the wait time on SOS calls is down to a few seconds and they get connected instantly. These changes will reflect on our delivery partner app within 24 hours. Thank you once again for caring about our delivery partners as deeply as we do," it added.
