Food delivery executive from Hyderabad dies in Riyadh while racing to deliver Iftar parcel

Mohammed Maqsood Hussain, 33, a native of Jahanuma in Hyderabad, fell off his bike after the collision and died on the spot on March 18. His body is expected to be repatriated soon

Dubai: A food delivery executive, who was racing against time to deliver a customer’s Iftar food parcel, collided with another vehicle in the busy traffic and died on the spot in Riyadh.

Mohammed Maqsood Hussain, 33, a native of Jahanuma in Hyderabad, fell off his bike after the collision and died on the spot on March 18. His body is expected to be repatriated soon. He was working as a motorcycle driver as per visa information and delivering food parcels for a leading food delivery app through a sub-contractor in Riyadh.

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The food delivery app business is popular across the globe including Gulf countries that draw scores of unemployed youths from India and other South Asian countries into the high-risk and low paid job. Like other Indians, Hussain believed that he was going to work in a popular food delivery app and he was right to some extent as indeed he was working for one, but not as a direct employee. He too had his share of work and wage relevance grievances, common to many similar motorbike riders in most Gulf countries.

“It’s not easy to abandon the work and return home either,” says Abdul Jabbar, a Hyderabadi social worker in the Saudi capital, explaining that this was since the workers were required to fulfill contractual obligations from their part. He said there were some other Hyderabadi motorbike drivers stranded in the Kingdom.

Most bike riders arrive from India on sub-contracting companies that execute delivery jobs of popular food delivery apps without proper employment contracts or visa verification, he added.