Nearly 2,000 shops tie up with helpline
Bengaluru:
Karnataka Revenue Minister R Ashoka, MP Tejasvi Surya and Mayor M Gautham Kumar on Sunday extended a facility of free home delivery of essential items to the Bengaluru South police division limits.
The limit covers three assembly constituencies — Basavanagudi, Jayanagar and Padmanabhnagar –and some wards of Chickpet assembly constituency. Citizens from these localities can call the COVID-19 Home Delivery Helpline, set up by the Task Force of Tejasvi Surya, on 080 6191 4960.
Home delivery charges have been waived currently and the items will be delivered within a day.
“We initially launched a pilot in the Kathriguppe ward. Based on its success, we have extended it to Bengaluru South Police division limits,” Surya said.
“We noticed that many citizens continued to venture out to purchase groceries, fruits and vegetables during the lockdown, putting themselves at risk of getting infected by the coronavirus,” Surya noted.
Ashoka said, “Those comfortable with a phone call may call the helpline on 080 61914960. Those who are familiar with WhatsApp can type out their order or upload a photo on the same number.”
The helpline is a partnership of some of Bengaluru’s best tech talent. Kaleyra has provided the WhatsApp Chatbot for the helpline, which is manned by call centre employees of [24]7.ai. Cartoon Mango-ITW Consulting developed the platform entirely under the guidance of the Office of the MP, Elephant Ear Consulting and iSpirt.
Dunzo provides the last-mile delivery to the citizens of Kathriguppe, and so does Rapido.
PharmEasy and Spotcare assist in delivering medicines to people.
Big Bazaar, StoreSe, shopG (community buying startup), Clover Ventures and Ninja Cart are all delivering groceries and fruits to households as well as apartments in bulk.
Housejoy has stepped in to help fumigate households and assist in delivery, while Let?s Be The Change has mapped all important stores that are verified and open.
A total of 1,926 shops have tied up with the helpline, including 958 provision stores, 323 vegetable stores, 479 medical stores, 82 meat stores and 84 miscellaneous stores.
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