Noida/Gurugram: At the gate of a housing society in Noida’s Sector 50, security guard Suraj Kumar, 27, spends much of his 12-hour shift doing a job that barely existed in this form when he started working five years ago: managing the flow of delivery workers.
As head of security, Kumar spends his shifts dealing with a steady flow of delivery workers, alongside the residents and visitors entering the complex.
On a Sunday afternoon, he heard an argument at the entrance between another guard and a food delivery worker.
“The house number is wrong, check it again and tell me,” the guard said.
“No, I’m giving you the correct number. Don’t waste my time, let me go inside,” the delivery worker replied.
Kumar stepped in. The delivery worker was arguing over the house number, while the guard had checked the details and found that the resident had declined the entry approval.
Kumar asked the delivery worker to repeat the name and house number. It turned out he had given the wrong number. The resident he had named lived in another house.
“They are in such a hurry to enter the society that they don’t even bother to check or give the correct information,” Kumar said.
“Because of one mistake, I had to deal with calls and complaints from both residents – one was angry because the delivery was late, while the other received an approval message for an order that wasn’t even theirs.”
Across gated societies in Delhi-NCR, this has become an increasingly familiar scene. The change has followed the explosion of doorstep and quick-commerce deliveries across Delhi-NCR. For security guards, whose traditional job was to control visitors and protect residents, the society gate has increasingly become a logistics checkpoint, one where they are caught between residents demanding convenience, delivery workers racing against deadlines, and rules imposed by welfare associations.
“Hum mandir ki ghanti jaise hain, koi bhi aaye, humein baja deta hai, chahe galti kisi ki bhi ho (We are like a temple bell – anyone who comes rings us, no matter whose fault it is),” said 58-year-old Sushil Kumar, a security guard in Sector 50, Noida.
“Security guards are sometimes treated like personal servants, while delivery workers also face a lack of safety and security. Both groups work under pressure and often face neglect for various reasons, which can lead to frustration on the job and, eventually, confrontations,” said Sumit Kashyap, a resident of Mahagun Meadows in Noida’s Sector 150.
Kashyap further added that many times the behaviour of receivers also worsen the situation, particularly when they are harsh or impatient with delivery workers. According to him, the entire delivery system needs to be strengthened, with delivery workers receiving proper training on how to handle situations such as delays, cancellations, or cases where the receiver does not respond.
“Some counselling sessions or training could help workers deal with difficult situations more calmly and prevent them from panicking or getting into confrontations. The same applies to security personnel,” said Kashyap.
“Residents are also an important part of this entire chain. They need to learn to be patient and treat both delivery workers and security personnel with dignity.”
As deliveries have increased, societies and RWAs have also begun looking for ways to reduce friction at the gates. These include asking residents to pre-approve expected deliveries through gate-management apps and enforcing guidelines on respectful conduct towards security staff.
Many societies have also designated dedicated, marked parking bays for delivery bikes immediately outside or near the gate to keep driveways clear.
“In smaller and mid-sized societies, these situations can be managed relatively easily. However, large societies need a more professional approach. Dedicated ‘logistics marshals’ or additional gate staff should be deployed during peak delivery hours — such as morning grocery deliveries, midday food orders and evening parcels — to manage delivery entries separately from core security operations,” said Singh.
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When a scooter becomes a flashpoint
Guard Sushil Kumar recalls another incident from a few days ago, when a delivery worker started arguing with him after being stopped from entering the society on his electric vehicle, which is not allowed under the society rules. Kumar stopped the delivery person at the gate, but he insisted that he could not walk that far and wanted to enter on his electric scooter.
The argument unfolded at the entrance, with the security guards trying to enforce the rules while the delivery worker refused to leave his scooter behind.
“Delivery guys, especially these young boys, have no fear of losing their jobs. They roam around like some don and don’t even respect anyone. They just start fighting,” said Kumar.
“These are society rules, and we are workers too, but delivery guys come here with a completely different level of urgency and attitude,” he added.
The matter was eventually resolved after the resident was contacted and the delivery person was asked to follow the society’s rules and deliver the parcel on foot.
“He argued with us for more than 15 minutes. Because of him, a line of visitors and other delivery people piled up at the gate, creating traffic and adding to our stress and workload,” said Kumar.
When a thousand deliveries turn into a gate rush
The fights between security guards and delivery persons, however, are not always resolved at the gate by supervisors or RWA managers. Sometimes, they spill onto social media, make headlines and even bring security agency managers and the police into the picture.
In January this year, a violent clash unfolded at Nimbus Society in Greater Noida after a delivery agent rang the wrong doorbell. The delivery person refused to leave and asked the resident who opened the door to check the address. The flat owner then called security, following which a heated argument broke out between the guards and the delivery agent.
Viral footage of the incident showed security guards and delivery agents hitting each other with sticks and rods. A crowd of residents and several guards could be seen running back and forth as the situation spiralled at the society gate.
The police reached the spot later, but by then, the people involved had already left, leaving their motorcycles behind. An FIR was later filed against the delivery person arrested and some unidentified people for rioting, using weapons, unlawful assembly, causing injuries and other offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the report said.
Guards and delivery agents related complaints and FIRs are not common at police stations in Gurugram and Noida. Most arguments and verbal altercations are resolved by security managers or members of the AOA and RWA. Even in cases where the police are called, the matter is often settled mutually with the intervention of society members.
“Not every verbal altercation reaches the police station. When security guards and delivery personnel are involved, the matter is mostly resolved by society members themselves,” said a Gurugram police official.
A Noida Sector 49 police official also said that complaints arising from housing societies, particularly disputes between delivery personnel and security guards, do not frequently reach the police station unless the altercation escalates into a physical fight.
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The pressure does not end at the society gate
Jahangir, 26, works as a delivery partner in Noida’s Sector 50 and 51. He delivers everything from Blinkit and Zepto groceries to Zomato food orders. Many of the security guards at gated societies in Sector 150 know him not just by his face, but also by his name. Yet that familiarity has not always protected him from confrontations with security guards.
“It’s not always our fault. We are also working under strict deadlines and have to complete deliveries within a fixed time. But guards and residents often don’t try to understand our situation or even speak to us calmly,” said Raju Singh, a delivery person in Gurugram. “The moment a delivery is delayed, people call us and start shouting, but they forget that we are also under pressure and have timelines to meet.
Recalling one such incident, Jahangir described how, after completing a delivery, he was stopped by the guards when he returned to the gate. The guards questioned him about why he had taken so long. When he explained that the recipient had taken time to open the door, one of the guards allegedly began shouting at him and blaming him for the delay.
“I told him that the receiver was not opening the door, but he still started arguing. He said, ‘You guys sit in the parks and start talking on your phones inside the society,'” recalled Jahangir.
“We are so time-bound that after completing one delivery, we barely get five to 10 minutes to reach the next location. He was still arguing, so would I just stay quiet? Would I not answer or raise my voice?”
Jahangir said that parking is another frequent source of confrontation. Problems arise particularly when a delivery partner has multiple orders within the same society. While some residents provide clearance for the delivery vehicle, others take longer to respond, leaving the delivery partner waiting at the gate while security guards seek the necessary approval.
“If they are doing their duty, we are also doing ours. There is no proper place to park our vehicles. How can we walk around carrying such heavy parcels? Does anybody think about these things before making the rules?” Jahangir added.
When a confrontation takes place between a security guard and a delivery partner, the matter is generally first handled by the security manager. If the issue is not resolved, it is then taken up with the society’s RWA or Apartment Owners’ Association (AOA).
“Delivery-related chaos in high-rises has seen an exponential rise due to changes in lifestyle, largely driven by quick-delivery e-commerce. The delivery boys’ segment is largely untrained, as we have observed as AOAs. Strictly monitoring delivery personnel and their movement inside the society is a tough task for security guards,” said Puneet Sharma, president of NOFFA.
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Beyond the gate
At Ambience Lagoon in Sector 24, Gurugram, security does not end at the main entrance. Guards are stationed in every block, and the tension between delivery workers and security personnel can travel beyond the gate, all the way to the doorstep.
Kunwar Singh Yadav, 42, has been working as a security guard for the past eight years. He sits in K Block on a plastic chair near the lift area, with a table in front of him holding a few business magazines and a newspaper.
“Sometimes delivery people ask me to take the delivery to the doorstep, but I can’t do that because I have to maintain security and cannot simply leave my post. The delivery guy, however, starts arguing, saying, ‘I’ll leave it on your table; the resident will take it.’ But when I call the resident, they start shouting, asking why I took the parcel,” said Yadav.
Yadav also points to a larger problem: there is no platform or forum where security guards can raise issues ranging from these daily confrontations to salary delays, the absence of Provident Fund (PF) in many societies and leave-related concerns.
“There is no group or forum because nobody has the courage or privilege to raise their voice and lose their job,” said Yadav.
“We need something for ourselves, but we are even afraid to speak about our own problems.”
Suraj Kumar raises a similar question about the lack of unity among security guards. He works 12-hour shifts, and neither his agency nor the society provides PF or leave. He said these issues need to be raised collectively. With the number of security agencies increasing, he also said, the hiring of new workers at lower wages has become more common.
“I want to raise all these issues, but no one comes forward, and I alone can’t change things,” he said. “There needs to be unity among the guards so that we can get the dignity and the things we deserve.”
(Edited by Raunaq Lekhi)