Unhygienic food outlets in Twin cities remain popular despite health hazards

Makeshift restaurants are often found operating near garbage dumps or overflowing gutters that can cause diseases

ISLAMABAD: Unhygienic food outlets seem to remain popular in the twin cities due to their low prices despite practising food adulteration in their kitchens. Regardless of the fact that eating at a roadside vendor or at small ‘Khokha’ involves severe health threats, scores of people continue to visit them mainly because of low prices.

Majority of the customers at these outlets are illiterate labourers working at under construction mega projects in the capital that prefer having meals at these points as majority of them look for cheaper rates besides having no concept of hygienic food.

The makeshift restaurants set up close to construction sites were often found operating near garbage dumps or overflowing gutters that can cause infectious diseases. Noor Khan, one regular customer of these kiosks told APP that because he was away from family he had no choice but to eat at such outlets for these places were offering cheap rates for a meal that could only be afforded in his limited income.

“The government needs to pay heed towards people from lower income groups as we get extremely low wages and the owners are least concerned about the increasing cost of living,” he said.

Terming these ‘Khokhas’ a blessing as they keep them from sleeping on an empty stomach, he said, after working hard all day long they did not have time to even think about all the diseases that threatened them and just want to have a full stomach.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2019.