Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai (SS)

Mumbai, May 8: A food delivery outlet, working as an essential service provider during the lockdown, on Thursday was forced to shut down for the fourth time. The staff were allegedly lathi-charged and harassed by policemen at least thrice, which led them to do so.

The owner of Goila Butter Chicken at D N Nagar, Andheri West, Saransh Goila tweeted that they had decided to shut down the outlet after the police lathi-charged his staff on Wednesday night. The restaurant has five outlets, however, only the Bandra and Andheri outlets are functioning presently with 13 staffers.

Goila said that after the police entered their shop and lathi-charged his employees for the first time, he visited the police station to understand whether he is supposed to stop the delivery of food. However, he was informed that since such an order has not been issued and the area has not been declared a containment zone, it shall not be needed. Even then, the policemen would come every few days to shut the outlet.

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Krishna Chandra, a staffer of Silver Spoon, another outlet in the lane also said that policemen often visited them at night to shut their outlet. They ask them to keep the outlet open for a limited time only. However, they have not hit them, he added.

Senior Inspector Parmeshwar Ganame of the D N Nagar police station said that he was not aware of what happened, but if the staff stand outside the outlets, policemen might have beaten them up. The matter has now been resolved.

Another officer added that food delivery agents are often found standing outside the restaurants and not adhering to social distancing norms. This leads to officers trying to disperse the crowds.