Hit by rain woes, gig riders raise pitch for safety steps

Hyderabad: As several districts in Telangana continue to battle the dire situation of waterlogging and flash floods, the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers’ Union (TGPWU) has expressed significant concerns regarding the safety of delivery and ride-hailing personnel. The union demands the aggregator companies remove time-bound delivery guarantees and provide rain-protective gear.

According to TGPWU, as per the reports, the delivery workers, working with various food and grocery delivery apps, wade through heavily waterlogged streets and lanes. In one particular video, which has come to the union’s notice, a delivery worker in Gajuwaka (in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh) was harassed and assaulted by a man claiming to be a Sub-Inspector.

Shaik Salauddin, the founder-president of TGPWU, emphasised the critical importance of ensuring the safety and welfare of gig workers and pointed out that the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted fairly widespread to widespread light/moderate rainfall in Telangana over the next seven days.

In light of these predictions and given the extent of damage to public infrastructures including roads and major highways due to heavy rains and flooding, TGPWU raised the concern for the safety workers.

The union demanded the aggregator companies to halt operations in flood-affected areas and pay workers the ‘minimum guarantee’ as compensation for loss of pay induced by the dire flood situation.

All delivery platforms, such as Zomato, Swiggy, Blinkit, Zepto, BigBasket and others, remove time-bound delivery guarantee in areas with light/moderate rainfall, and implement without fail, rain surge for all delivery workers and asked them to provide raincoats, rain-protective phone covers, extra charging chords, and power banks at no extra cost to their delivery workers.

TGPWU also demanded that ride-hailing companies like Uber, Ola, and Rapido offer Rs 1 lakh to drivers whose vehicles were damaged by floods for repair costs.

TGPWU appealed to the Telangana government to issue urgent directives to all platforms to ensure the safety and fair treatment of gig workers amid these severe weather conditions.