After 12 years, Mumbai dabbawalas were unable to operate on Wednesday due to heavy rains in the city. According to the Dabbawala Association, the last time they weren't operational for a day during the monsoon season was during the flood on July 26, 2005.
On Tuesday, while the dabbawalas were able to deliver lunch in the morning, they couldn't return the empty lunch boxes to the source point in the evening, that they had collected from the offices after lunch.
As per the association's spokesperson, the dabbawalas were stranded at railway stations across the city due to the heavy downpour.
Speaking about the decision to remain non-operational, Subhash Talekar, spokesperson of the Mumbai Dabbawala Association, said, "Majority of the dabbawalas were stranded on Western line railway stations. The other two railway routes were also not functioning on Tuesday due to which none of them were able to deliver the lunch box back post lunch. Tuesday morning, while delivering lunch boxes, we were working as per the scheduled time. Post lunch, we got delayed."
Over two lakh lunch box are delivered by them across the city daily.
Since all educational institutions and many offices are closed on Wednesday, according to the association, they are not facing any issue of not delivering lunch on time.
Subhash Talekar, said, "Since few trains started functioning on Wednesday morning, all lunch boxes were delivered back to the source point. We are always on schedule even during the monsoon. This is the second time we could not function due to floods in the city."
DEDICATED SERVICE
- Mumbai dabbawalas deliver over two lakh lunch boxes across the city daily
- As schools were shut and several offices were closed, the dabbawalas did not face the problem of not delivering meals
