Hyderabad Police on Saturday seized the vehicles of Zomato, Swiggy, Uber Eats and Dunzo delivery agents due to lockdown and fined them Rs. 1000 each. According to the police, such food delivery services cannot be considered to fall under essential services.
Police seize vehicles of Zomato,Uber eats,swiggy & Dunzo delivery boys & fined Rs 1000 each in Hyderabad on Saturday nd as per police the vehicles will b released after 5pm, police say's food delivery agents cannot be considerd under essential services. Express video by R V K Rao pic.twitter.com/LvF4Ry2Bmg
— TNIE Telangana (@XpressHyderabad) May 22, 2021
Some videos on social media show the Police hitting delivery agents.
#Swiggy and #Zomato services stopped in Hyderabad.
— MIRCHI9 (@Mirchi9) May 22, 2021
Some social media reports say police have been stopping Delivery agents at places in the city.pic.twitter.com/OkboU9JjPt
There is some confusion regarding whether food delivery was permitted during the lockdown although it appears food delivery services are permitted to operate. Asaduddin Owaisi has hit out at the Police and said that “if the govt has decided to not allow food delivery, then please amend the GO. Till such an amendment is made, food delivery personnel should not be stopped.”
The Police says that delivery agents were on the road without a valid e-pass and with false documents. The delivery agents were detained and some were lathi-charged.
The Commissioner said, as per The News Minute, “There is permission for e-commerce for food delivery but some youth were misusing the T-shirts of Swiggy and Zomato to roam around. The checks were initiated after a few people were found impersonating delivery persons wearing the T-shirts to move about. If you have passes you have travelled in the routes specified in the pass. Those violating this will be booked under the Disaster Management Act and Section 188 Indian Penal Code (IPC) (for Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant).”
Meanwhile, Swiggy and Zomato have stopped their services seeking clarity from the Government.
