Zomato Response To 14-Year-Old Boy Who Turned Delivery Agent After Father’s Accident Wins Heart

When I was 14 years old, I didn’t do any work except my schoolwork because I didn’t need to do other stuff. I recently started to work, but there are many children in the country who have to start working at a very young age just to survive.

At the age when I am living my life with all the luxuries, there are children who do not even know what basic necessities are. To stay alive, they have to do work until a miracle happens.

A similar miracle happened with a 14-year-old boy whose video went viral on social media some time ago. A young teenager who was forced to work as a delivery driver due to financial constraints has been awarded funding for his studies by the food-delivery service Zomato.

When the boy’s video was extensively shared on Twitter, it raised various concerns from different sections of society. While many people praised his determination, many noted that it amounted to illegal child labour. In between all this, Zomato did the best thing!

So, let’s have a look at what exactly happened:

14-year-old working as Zomato delivery agent

After the teenager brought meals to a man’s home in New Delhi, a Twitter user by the name of Rahul Mittal recorded a video of the interaction. In a tweet, Mittal asserted that the youngster’s father’s accident had forced the boy to work as a delivery agent. In his tweet, he wrote,

This 7 year boy is doing his father job as his father met with an accident the boy go to school in the morning and after 6 he work as a delivery boy for @zomato we need to motivate the energy of this boy and help his father to get into feet #zomato

This 7 year boy is doing his father job as his father met with an accident the boy go to school in the morning and after 6 he work as a delivery boy for @zomato we need to motivate the energy of this boy and help his father to get into feet #zomato pic.twitter.com/5KqBv6OVVG

— RAHUL MITTAL (@therahulmittal) August 1, 2022

The youngster, whose name has been withheld for privacy and security concerns, is shown in Mittal’s video holding a box of chocolates. The teen explains in the video that he delivers food orders from 6 pm to 11 pm every night at his job. The Zomato orders come through his father’s profile that’s enrolled on the food delivery app.

Although Zomato has now established the youngster is actually 14 years old, he gave the boy’s age as seven. Nevertheless, not only his tweet but also the boy’s story went viral on various social media platforms. While many people are giving their opinion on the video, many others are trying to raise funds for him.

Zomato will fund the study of 14-year-old boy

Later, Zomato released a statement in which it expressed gratitude to the online community for bringing the boy’s story to their notice.

The company also stated that, despite numerous violations, such as child labour and misrepresentation, they will not take any harsh measures against the family given their current circumstances. In the statement provided by a Zomato representative, they said,

“We are thankful to the internet community for bringing this to our notice. There are multifold violations here – child labour and misrepresentation, and we’ve educated the family on these grounds while not taking any strict action on this, keeping in mind the situation the family is in.”

The statement added,

“As an exception and on humanitarian grounds, our teams have extended whatever support was possible in the said situation.”

The business noted that the teen’s father was involved in an accident before he began working as a delivery driver for Zomato and that it had offered to support the teen’s education through its Future Foundation. Therefore, the spokeswoman explained, Zomato’s policy of accidental support for drivers did not apply in this instance.