Srinagar: The Srinagar district administration had on Friday asked people to place home-delivery orders from designated departmental stores, but the stores are either not answering calls or demanding a minimum order value for home delivery.
Several complaints have been received from across Srinagar with people saying their calls are not being answered. Besides, they say, they are being asked to place orders of higher value and wait for some days to get them delivered.
The Royal Bazaar Departmental store in Khanyar has been accused of demanding higher order value from customers for home delivery. The store’s owner, however, refuted such claims after being contacted about the issue.
Kashmir Reader checked with all the departmental stores and found that most of the calls remain unanswered and to those that are answered, the response is to wait for at least two days before the order is delivered. A minimum order value of five hundred to one thousand rupees is also demanded.
Even the orders which are to be delivered at just a little distance from the departmental stores are being delivered after one or two days, with owners citing the huge number of orders as reason.
Pick and Choose, a departmental store in Lal Chowk, told this reporter over phone, “To deliver the order at Jahangir Chowk, it will take us two days. We have received a huge number of orders, so it will take time to deliver.”
Kashmir Mart, a departmental store in Sonwar, said over phone, “We deliver orders only above Rs 500. We cannot deliver orders of lesser value.”
Similarly, Housefull departmental store in Qamarwari said, “We need orders of at least 500 hundred rupees to get them delivered at homes. We have to send these orders through vehicles and we have to pay for fuel and drivers.”
Almost half of the departmental stores that were contacted said that the delivery of orders will take a few days, even for addresses at a short distance away. Many stores others either did not answer phone calls, even after many attempts, or asked for a minimum order value in the range of Rs 500 to Rs 1,000.
Ali Baba departmental store in Alamgiri Bazar refused to deliver orders at home. “We are not delivering orders to homes. People need to come at a specific time to our store,” it said, and further explained, “We have not yet been provided with protective gear from the district administration to deliver orders to homes.”
When contacted Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Shahid Iqbal Choudhary said that the home-delivery of groceries presently underway with 26 stores and more under consideration require lot of precautions and we are working with stakeholders to increase it.
“It’s not that calls are not responded, officials too associated and today till 1 pm 49,212 home delivery orders have been taken/deliver and stores complain dozens of hoax calls wasting resources and energy,” he said adding that people on ground are working to the best of their capabilities and need to be supported. This is not a routine time”.
The district administration of Srinagar had on Friday designated 23 departmental stores across Srinagar city for the convenience of residents and to ensure that people remained at home, in order to contain the spread of Covid-19.

KALEEM GEELANI