New Year’s Eve without App deliveries? City readies plan B amid strike call

Kolkata: Like every year, banker Samridhi Bhattacharya had her New Year’s Eve plans neatly chalked out.

A house party at a friend’s place in south Kolkata, complemented by her favourite food ordered through online delivery apps, was on the cards.

However, with delivery workers across major e-commerce platforms announcing a nationwide strike on December 31, she is now working on a plan B.

“If there’s a strike, we’ll head to our favourite eateries and opt for takeaways,” she said.

House parties that rely heavily on food orders and grocery deliveries are likely to be hit if the strike goes ahead.

Gig workers are expected to log out of apps or majorly reduce work hours.

Apart from Kolkata, cities such as Pune, Bengaluru, Delhi and Hyderabad, along with several tier-2 markets, are expected to be affected. Gig workers have complained of declining earnings and increasing dependence on algorithms to determine pay and work allocation.

Earlier, delivery workers had staged a strike on December 25, which led to an estimated 60 per cent disruption in deliveries across several cities. Public relations professional Ranajit Dey, who also plans to host a house party, said he is prepared to adapt. “If App deliveries are disrupted, we’ll turn it into a potluck,” he said.

Actor and businessman Indranil Sengupta has voiced strong support for the gig workers.

A south Kolkata resident, Sengupta is hosting a large house party where his friends will cook, recreating the spirit of old-fashioned picnics.

“Didn’t we celebrate New Year’s Eve even before App deliveries existed? The way delivery workers are pushed to meet 10-minute targets, often risking their lives, is extremely inhuman,” he said.