Mumbra: For years, popular food and grocery delivery services like Zomato, Swiggy, Nature’s Basket, Big Bazaar etc. did not deliver to Mumbra, a bustling suburb just north of Mumbai city limits. During the lockdown, as deliveries became the only way to get food and other essentials, Mumbra’s residents were completely left out and had to risk stepping out.

Now, they have an alternative – a local, homegrown food delivery service set up by boys from Bhiwandi, which is even further north of Mumbra. And it is bringing food and joy to the nine lakh residents of Mumbra.

Both Mumbra and Bhiwandi have a majority Muslim population. Mumbra became the destination of choice when many Muslim families wanted to get out of Mumbai after the violence of 1992-93, when more than 500 Muslims were killed.

Bombay Muslims from riot-hit areas thought it would be safer to move to an area far off from the city and that too in huge numbers. Availability of a space to settle down among one community, cheap housing and access to basic amenities led to the rapid expansion. Mumbra’s population grew 20 times, from merely about 50,000 to nine lakh, making it one of the fastest expansions of an urban area in Maharashtra.

They built their new lives, but prejudices remained – they found it difficult to even get admission for their children in good schools. “My son is now in second standard and is studying in a convent school in Mumbra. We tried getting him admission to an international school in Dombivali. But we were turned away because we are from Mumbra. The principal says that the kids from Mumbra are not disciplined and this will affect other students too,” said Kausar Shaikh, a mother of two kids who has been living in Mumbra for the last ten years.

Many of the madrassas are in dismal conditions due to lack of funds from the government. According to a status report of the Maharashtra state minorities commission, nearly 84% of the students do not opt for higher education. For years this town was also called the land of refugees. The image of this city worsened after the Ishrat Jahan encounter case. Now, the recent arrests of ISIS suspects have deepened that impression.

One result has been that business has not been keen to come here. Food and grocery delivery apps have avoided Mumbra, seen as a ‘red flag zone’. Delivery boys claim that there have been incidents where people have refused to pay for the food they order. Some even switch off their phones and vanish. Moreover, all the delivery companies have to deliver within a time limit – in one incident when a delivery boy had gone to an apartment in Amrut nagar in Mumbra, the person collected the delivery and went in to fetch the money, but allegedly never returned. He had climbed out of the window and escaped. In Mumbra, the delivery boys find the lanes and bylanes too difficult to cover in the 30 minute target. Ironically, they deliver to suburbs around and beyond Mumbra, such as Thane, Kalyan and Bhiwandi.

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Some efforts were made by Zomato and Swiggy to deliver in this area but they pulled put out within a month. This reporter tried reaching out to Swiggy and Zomato, but they are yet to respond. Of the well-known delivery services, only Nature’s Basket responded, but without any details: "As per your email, we do provide delivery service at the provided location but we are unable to deliver perishable foods because orders in this region are delivered through our shipping partner. Hence we can only deliver the products which have very long shelf life. Right now we are not operational pan India due to the pandemic."

There is a genuine need for such services and two enterprising young men – Azeem Siddiqui, 25, an android developer, and Nehal Rangar, 24, a mechanical engineer – have stepped in with their service, Crisfood. Started just around the time the lockdown began, it is already catching on.

“We had this idea for a delivery app for the last two years and had gone to Kerala to conduct detailed research. But this was before pandemic struck. Just a month before the lockdown happened, we got all our permissions and papers in place. When we first started we faced a lot of issues like people did not to pay, delivery boys were beaten up, threats by local leaders, etc. There is this problem here that the local goons will want a share in your income and a dominance over any new business which is set up. But we did not give up. For each problem, we had our own solution,” Azeem said, without elaborating.

He further said, “Like everyone else, even our delivery boys were scared to go out on the field as [COVID-19] infections were at a peak. In such situations, I personally went out for deliveries. The hotel owners did not take us seriously in the beginning. But during the lockdown, the same hotel owners fished out our cards from their dustbins and contacted us. Suddenly, from just 15 hotels, we had a tie up with 200 hotels in the area. These hotels include everything from dining restaurants to sweet shops, bakeries, chaat joints or even ice cream shops. We deliver everything.”

Nehal also echoed his partner's words. He says that this app has not only shown other service providers how to work in Mumbra, but also created employment opportunities for youngsters who were in need of jobs. “Many people lost their jobs during the pandemic. We have engineers and architects working as delivery boys with us and they are even not complaining,” says Nehal.

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Residents are convinced. Suhela Mulla, a local resident, said if Crisfood could be successful, why can’t other apps come to this city. “It is just a misconception that only goons and terrorists reside here and it is risky to come to this area. Everyone deserves a fair chance and it is not right to single out an area like this.”

The police commissioner of Thane city, Vivek Phansalkar says that every portion of the city must be included in all such activities and it is wrong to label one area separately. “Till now we have received no such complaints from any delivery boy. And if anyone wants to start any such service in the city, they are welcome to do so. I assure full cooperation from our side. Every area should be accessible for such  activities and people should not believe in hearsay.”

After gaining success in Mumbra, Azeem and Nehal have even expanded to areas like Kalwa and Bhiwandi too. “If we can operate in Mumbra, everyone else can too. It's high time that old stereotypes are discarded," says Azeem.

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