Grofers says its delivery agents were arrested during Janata curfew, led to a delay of 60,000 orders

• On the day of the Janata curfew, from 7 am to 9 pm, everyone stayed home, the roads bore an empty look, with nothing but essential services plying.
• However, grocery delivery service Grofers faced major issues on the day of Janata curfew.
• Its delivery agents were stopped and arrested which led to a delay of 60,000 orders across the country.

On March 22, India observed a Janata curfew, or a self-imposed curfew called for by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. From 7 am to 9 pm, everyone stayed home, the roads bore an empty look, with only essential services set to be available to stall the spread of Coronavirus.

However, grocery delivery service Grofers faced major issues on the day. Its delivery agents were stopped and arrested which led to a delay of 60,000 orders across the country.

“As per the directive of the central government, we at Grofers continued to provide essential goods to customers across the country on the day of Janta Curfew. State Government and local administration are advised to exempt e-commerce operations (warehousing and logistics facilities and services), wholesaler, their vendors and third party delivery partners who are a part of the supply and logistics chain ecosystem, from any type of prohibitory orders etc,” said Albinder Dhindsa, co-founder & CEO, Grofers.

While a lockdown has been issued, only essential services will be open. E-commerce is listed under the essential services category which meant that delivery agents from Amazon, Flipkart, Zomato, Swiggy, Bigbasket, Grofers and others would be able to continue with work.

In spite of this, Grofers says it faced major issues.

“Due to some confusion regarding the services exempted, many of our delivery riders were stopped and arrested which led to a delay in the delivery of almost 60,000 orders countrywide. This does not only affect the morale of the delivery staff who are working selflessly to support people but is also causing inconvenience to many customers who are relying highly on our services,” said Dhindsa.

He also added that in a few states including Maharashtra, they are also being forced to shut down their warehouses. “Our teams are working relentlessly to support people and we are abiding by the rules and ensuring the maintenance of proper hygiene and sanitation in our facilities and vehicles,” Dhindsa said while appealing the government to further clear the air around the issue.

See Also:
Coronavirus lockdown in India: List of essential services operational during a lockdown