SRINAGAR: Since the Covid-19 lockdown was imposed across India, courier services are not able to function, depriving thousands who worked as delivery agents and office staff in Kashmir of their livelihood.
“Our earning is solely dependent upon deliveries made to the doorsteps of customers,” said Farooq Ahmad Dar, a delivery agent for the Blue Dart courier services company.
“Due to road and air traffic being closed by the government, all delivery agents of various courier companies are facing a financial crisis,” he added.
There are 20 courier services companies working in Kashmir, which include Blue Dart, DHL, Fedex, DTDC, Trackon, Professional, and Ecom.
President of the Kashmir Courier Association, Zahoor Ahmad Qari, told Kashmir Reader that courier companies have been the worst affected due to shutdown of air and road traffic.
“80% of our couriers were coming through air traffic and 20% were coming by road. During normal days, the courier companies used to receive products from different online shopping platforms. Since the nationwide lockdown, we are not receiving products from any online platform,” Qari said.
“Nearly 5,000 people were earning their livelihood directly or indirectly from courier services across Kashmir valley. Now these people have no income,” he said.
Qari added that due to the lockdown, courier companies have suffered huge losses. “The government should provide compensation to courier companies and delivery agents, so that they can feed their families during the lockdown period,” he said.

ARIF RASHID