Gurugram Police Directs Officers to Allow E-Commerce Deliveries, Delhi Police Also in Talks With E-Retailers

The Gurugram Police has announced that it had allowed the delivery operations of various online services amid the nationwide lockdown imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to limit the coronavirus outbreak. The list of services that have been allowed include Amazon, Big Basket, Dunzo, Flipkart, Grofers, Swiggy, and Zomato among others. Similar to the Gurugram Police, the Delhi Police also tweeted that it's working with various e-commerce companies to ensure delivery of essential commodities in the capital.

Through a tweet posted on Wednesday, the Gurugram Police highlighted it has directed all its officers to allow online delivery services namely Amazon, Big Basket, BlueDart, Dunzo, Flipkart, Grofers, Iffco Tokio, Milk Basket, Swiggy, Wow Express, and Zomato.

The Delhi Police also revealed through a separate tweet that it's engaging with e-commerce portals “for seamless delivery of essential commodities” to the residents of the capital city.

Sources close to the development said that a meeting between the representatives of various e-commerce companies and the Delhi Police was recently concluded with a decision to issue curfew passes to their delivery partners as early as Thursday. The warehouses and fulfilment centres of online retailers are also set to be opened to kick off their operations, while the home delivery process would be restored by the weekend.

Just like the Delhi Police, the Bengaluru Police is also hosting a meeting with e-commerce companies and delivery aggregators such as Swiggy and Zomato later on Wednesday to resume their services in the city and help residents receive essentials during the lockdown at their doorstep. The Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao posted a tweet to call representatives of respective companies for the meeting scheduled at his office at 7pm.

The new move comes following the reports highlighting conflicts between delivery associates and state police due to vague guidelines over essential deliveries during the lockdown. A large number of consumers showed their frustration due to unavailability of food items and other important orders. E-commerce companies, on the other hand, struggled to enable deliveries due to authoritative restrictions in many areas across the country.