Covid-19: Delivery persons, helps stare at bleak days ahead

With restrictions on movement due to fears over possibilities of an outbreak of Covid-19 in Noida, people doing partially or completely manual jobs, such as domestic

With restrictions on movement due to fears over possibilities of an outbreak of Covid-19 in Noida, people doing partially or completely manual jobs, such as domestic helps and delivery personnel, are staring at an uncertain future.

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The city is home to more than 50 residential highrises, with each one providing employing dozens of men and women as domestic helps. Given this demographic, the service class workers of Noida will be the worst hit due to curbs on movement.

“I work part time at four houses. Two of the families have already given me paid leave, but that is temporary. No one knows when I would be asked to resume work or whether I am asked at all. It doesn’t matter that I wash my hands often and maintain hygiene; we are the first ones to be let go of,” said Sarita, who works as a cook in Sector 75.

After a positive case was detected in a high-rise in Sector 78, domestic helps were barred from entering the society.

“Domestic helps, except those providing some sort of medical service, have been banned from the society for now and given paid leave. This was a collective decision of all residents,” said Yogender Chauhan, a resident of Hyde Park society where a Covid-19 positive case was found earlier this week, one of the four from Noida.

While a complete ban has not been seen in other high-rises, many families are choosing to keep domestic staff away.

“For most people that is an individual call. We are letting the staff in after thermal temperature screening at the main gate. Provision of sanitisers has been made at several places, including on escalators and elevators, and staff have been instructed to use them. A blanket ban has not been implemented and we are trying to come up with better and more effective solutions,” Rajiva Singh, president, Noida Federation of Apartment Owners’ Association, said.

Societies such as Hyde Park are also allowing delivery personnel in after screening, albeit only till the ground floor. “Residents have been asked to come down to collect deliveries, we have also requested people to avoid unnecessary interaction,” said Chauhan.

Many food chains and e-commerce portals, meanwhile, have come up with contactless delivery options.

“However, even before that, I had customers asking me to leave the food packets outside. The number of orders has also gone down and so far we have not suffered major loss but if the situation persists, I don’t know how long will the company even retain me,” said Deepak, a delivery person with a food delivery portal.

Residents, meanwhile, are visiting markets themselves and avoid taking delivery executives from coming home.

“It is better we go out and procure the necessities ourselves. We can always come back and sanitise ourselves,” said Ritika Singh, a resident of Sector 75.