Blinkit, Dunzo, Swiggy and Zepto are squeezing delivery partners

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Editor's note: Suppose you go in to work, try to mark your attendance and realize that you’re not able to. You enquire with the person concerned and they tell you that you are no longer an employee. That’s what happened to Vikas Kumar, a former delivery partner with grocery delivery app Blinkit, which launched its quick commerce business last December. Kumar’s delivery partner account on the Blinkit app was deactivated on 20 September. “It’s been four days. They just say we don’t want you to work here,” says the 25-year-old during our conversation on a rainy day last month, outside Blinkit’s Rani Laxmibai Nagar dark store in Greater Noida. The store manager and the company hadn’t given him a clear reason for the decision. While delivery partners rushed to pick up orders from the store, nine others like Kumar stood outside discussing how to get back on Blinkit after the company deactivated their accounts without any intimation, leaving them with no work. Blinkit delivery partners whose accounts have been deactivated “Once our ID is deactivated, we can’t reach out to anyone via …