When the mercury in Pune hit 41.4 degrees Celsius on Sunday, breaking a 10-year record for May, most people retreated indoors. However, that was no an option for Maharashtra’s food delivery workers. Across Pune and Mumbai , riders spend long hours on the road, helmets on, phones mounted, bags strapped, chasing order after order through afternoons that feel like an open furnace. Between them, they keep the cities fed. The structure of incentives makes it difficult to avoid working during the hottest part of the day. Raju Ghube, a Swiggy rider in Pune’s Katraj-Bibwewadi area, explains how the thresholds work. “I work in the afternoon and evening shift. During the 12 pm to 4 pm shift one needs to complete at least 2 hour 45 minutes of working time to get incentives; even one minute less than this threshold, you lose the incentive.…