Road accidents are undoubtedly a very normalized thing in India.

According to government data released in 2019, almost 1.5 Lakh people lost their lives in road accidents in 2017, which converts to 17 deaths every hour due to an accident.

Who To Blame?

The vast prevalence of road accidents are due to a myriad of reasons, be it uneven terrain, open pits and holes, rash driving, poor visibility and so one person cannot be held accountable for the same.

However, there are a lot of factors that covertly increase the chance of a road accident. For example, the popularity of home delivery services has increased competition in the market. To keep up with the market, some big restaurants have introduced new schemes like the express delivery system to attract customers.

Under the on-time delivery plan, customers are tempted to order food and get it delivered ASAP. This trend is more famous with pizza outlets and is presented as ‘Under 30 Minutes Or Free’.

This means that the restaurant is promising its customers to deliver their pizza in a maximum of 30 minutes and if they fail to do so, then the customer does not need to pay for it.

As a millennial customer, the offer sounds tempting enough but when we think about it then it’s unrealistic and puts excessive pressure on the delivery guy.

Somebody Is Trying To Bring A Change…

Considering the same, Bengaluru police commissioner, Bhaskar Rao has raised his concern over the issue on Twitter. Empathizing with the delivery employees, he urges pizza outlets to increase their delivery time from 30 minutes to 40.

He further mentions that pizza outlets should extend their delivery time considering the congested city roads and the duty to follow traffic rules.

Following this tweet, many users supported the IPS officer’s advice and ranted about how these companies set unrealistic expectations for the customer and the lower-ranked employee has to suffer for the same.

A Twitter user who happens to be a Bengaluru resident wrote, “I have seen Swiggy, Zomato boys jumping signals, overtaking vehicles, overspending and riding rash just to make sure they deliver in time. I always worried about how they risked their own lives in the road like that.”

Rupa Murthy tweeted, “Not just their lives, but lives of other drivers/pedestrians as well. If someone can wait for pizza for 30 mins, an additional 15 min must not make much diff. Pls, recommend 45 mins. If the customers have a problem with that, they can drive themselves to the store pick up their pizza”


Also Read: With Zomato And UberEats Coming Together, What Will Happen To The Cost Of Your Food And Food Delivery?


The tweet received huge support from Twitteratis and the under 30 minutes delivery service was vehemently opposed.

Whereas, while the tweet was trending on the feed, food delivery giant Swiggy stepped in and tweeted about its concerns and wrote:

“Hi there, we understand your concern. We do not condone traffic violations of any nature. If you witness the same, please highlight it to us by contacting us at 080-46866699. Have a good day ahead.”

It was ironic to see how one of the biggest violators- Swiggy which has been popularising the trend of express delivery pretended to act dutifully when checked for their dirty marketing.

In no time, Bhaskar Rao replied to Swiggy’s tweet but also commented upon their hypocrisy.

Is Time > Life?

On one hand, we are raising concerns over the increasing rate of road accidents in India while on the other we are bent down upon getting our pizza delivered under 30 minutes, caring little about the poor delivery boy who is probably risking his life to make both ends meet.

It’s a very small thing to observe but comes with big consequences. Sadly, these giant companies are too greedy to make profits in the market that they act callously towards the lower-ranked employees and treat them indifferently.

The delivery boys are pressurized to meet the unrealistic time boundaries set by the company or else they get penalized for not meeting them.

It’s not just about companies but also the customers who mistreat these delivery boys and be rude to them at the slightest of mistake or delay in their order delivery.

While we all know that it’s really dangerous out on the roads there, being a little lenient and considerate about the delivery time of our food items won’t be too much to ask when it can save someone’s life.


Image Credits: Google Images

Sources: Indian Express, News18 + more

Find The Blogger: @ZehraYameena


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