Zomato Founder Says Thank You as Tejasvi Surya Chimes In on Delivery Partners Work Conditions’ in Malls

New Delhi: Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya responded to Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal’s revelations of discriminatory behaviour to delivery personnel by shopping malls. In a post on X, Surya said that Vega City mall in Bengaluru has set up a resting point for delivery partners. 

Promptly replying to Surya’s post, Goyal wrote, “Thank you so much Tejasvi” with a saluting face emoji.

Surya’s reply came in response to a post on X where Goyal shared that Gurugram’s Ambience Mall has created a resting point for delivery partners. 

“Ambience Mall has already responded to the situation, and created a comfortable online food delivery pick up point for all delivery partners. Thanks Arjun (owner of Ambience) for noticing my post and taking quick action. He’s also agreed to let us deploy some “walkers” inside the mall to quickly shuttle the food from the restaurant to these pickup points to hand over the food to delivery partners,” Goyal shared. 

Responding to Goyal’s post, Surya shared, “When we set up a resting point for delivery partners at the Vega City Mall in June 2023, we ensured that they have convenient access to the mall & are able to enjoy a break during the wait for the order.” 

He also informed that he set up a “resting point for wheelchair delivery partners outside the MP office in Jayanagar.”

A few days back, Goyal and his wife Grecia Goyal took up the role of delivery personnel for a day in Gurugram. As he tried to enter Ambience Mall to pick an order as a delivery person wearing a Zomato red t-shirt and carrying the basket, he was not allowed to enter from the main gate, nor was he allowed to  or use the lift. 

While taking the delivery, he was made to sit on the stairs of the third floor along with other waiting delivery partners. 

He revealed this discriminatory behavior by the mall in a tweet. 

“During my second order, I realised that we need to work with malls more closely to improve working conditions for all delivery partners. And malls also need to be more humane to delivery partners. What do you think?” Goyal stated on October 6.

Taking note of Goyal’s experience of description by the mall’s security staff, Ambiance Mall management soon created a space for delivery personnel. 

“I urge all the other mall owners to please do the same, or come up with other innovative solutions which can help our collective customers, our delivery partners, restaurants, delivery aggregators, as well as malls themselves,” he added.