People continue to visit street barbers, roadside food vendors because of low prices

Islamabad

Despite being aware of the health hazards involved in having a haircut or a shave from a street barber and eating at a roadside food vendor, scores of people continue to visit them mainly because of low prices.

Posing a threat to the people with their unhygienic conditions, the number of such spots has considerably increased because of the influx of labourers on job at mega construction projects under way in the capital.

The makeshift restaurants set up close to construction sites are often found operating near garbage dumps or overflowing gutters that could be the cause of infectious diseases. Still poor labourers eat at these joints.

Fazal Khan, one such labourer told ‘The News’ that he had no choice for he was living away from his family and that he could only afford eating at such outlets. “With the amount of money we earn, it is hard to even buy food from these ‘khokha’ hotels,” he said.

Khan pointed out that his contractor hardly took responsibility to provide them food or shelter. “We work hard all day, have food at the cheapest place and then sometimes sleep on the road median at night,” he said adding that they did not have time to even think about all the diseases that threatened them. “These ‘khokhas’ are a blessing for us in the expensive city of Islamabad,” he said.

Similarly, street barbers are also a common sight found busy attending their customers, who are again mostly the labour class the labour class. With their unhygienic equipment and shaving kits that are said to be one of the leading causes of Hepatitis C, they continue to practice without any proper check from the authorities. They can be easily spotted in even posh sectors operating, most of the time, near construction sites or ‘khokas.’

They set up shop mostly in the greenbelts of different sectors and their gear includes a small mirror that is often broken, a chair, a mug, a couple of razors and blades that are used again and again.

Ali Muhammad, an owner of this makeshift set up in one of the parking of Super Market, denied that they use blade again and again. “We always change the blade. Our customers are also aware of the risks and they often demand us to use new blade each time,” he said with confidence.

An official of CDA told ‘The News’ that although the equipment of such barbers was often seized, they kept coming back.