Rohit Shishodia
Staying home due to the lockdown amid corona virus spread has led people to prefer homemade food. People are not ordering food from Swiggy and Zomato online ordering and delivery food platforms as a precaution against the pandemic disease which is killing and infecting millions worldwide.

This changed food habit is worrying delivery boys of Swiggy and Zomato, whose daily earnings have been severely impacted and they are earning just peanuts as compared to what they used to earn before the lockdown was imposed across India.

In scorching heat of April 13, 2020, the delivery boys of both Swiggy and Zomato were waiting for orders of food supply along the roadside in Kondli in Mayur Vihar Phase 3. The visible frustration on their faces was indicating their crisis. They deliver food in Noida (Uttar Pradesh) and all three phases of Mayur Vihar and other areas near Noida.

Karan Bhati, a delivery boy from Kondli, was sitting idle near a shop in the area. He said that the lockdown has severely impacted their earnings. Their livelihood was dependent on the number of orders received from customers. "I used to get fifteen orders in a day before the lockdown, but now I hardly receive ten orders for food in three days," explained Bhati.

“My earnings, which used to be around Rupees one thousand per day before the lockdown, have now come down to two to Rupees three hundred and even below this. My friends sitting near are facing the same problem. Our earning depends on orders we receive in a day,” added Bhati.

He further said that the earning has reduced because of lockdown and customers are now preferring homemade food rather than ordering from Swiggy in the fear that our food could be infected with corona virus, he added.

Similar views were expressed by Abhishek Gupta, a delivery boy from Zomato. He said that business of Zomato has been badly impacted due to corona virus. "People are not eating our food. Instead, they are eating their own home food. Earlier, I used to get incentive after nine orders, but now I merely get two or three orders,” he added.