The iconic Mumbai ‘dabbawalas’ or lunch box carriers, have hiked the costs of their delivery by ₹100 a month to cope with the rising cost of essential commodities.

“We are requesting our customers to support us in the time of crisis, as we will not be able to survive at a time when costs of essential commodities are escalating. We do not want our dabbawalas to commit suicide, when they fail to pay up for the bare minimal comforts of life,” Raghunath Medge, former president of Mumbai Dabbawalas' Association told PTI.

Medge attributed the steep hike to rise in prices of vegetables and costs of transport.

“Each year, we made sure that a minimal hike is done.

“But in the last one year prices of vegetables have risen steeply and now, even transportation has become costlier.

“The prices of petrol have once again been hiked. We cannot take this anymore,” Medge added.

Mumbai’s 5,000-odd ‘dabbawalas’ have been in action for over 125 years now, without any halts in their work pattern and deliver about 1 lakh lunches everyday to office-goers, school children and students.

The dabbawalas, who lie in an income group of ₹8,000-10,000 a month, have a Six Sigma quality certificate and a global business fan club, which includes Prince Charles and Richard Branson.

Their unique management and operational models have become subjects of management study beyond textbooks for global business schools.

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