Unhygienic food outlets remain popular despite adulteration

Islamabad:Unhygienic food outlets seemed to remain popular in twin cities due to their low prices despite practicing food adulteration in their kitchens.

Regardless of the fact that eating at a roadside vendor or at small kiosks 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 who prefer having meal at these points as majority of them looked 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 due to being away from family he had no choice but to eat at such outlets for these joints were offering cheap rates for a meal that could only be afforded in his limited income.

“Government needs to pay heed towards the low income group people as we were getting low wages and the owners are least concerned about the increasing dearness,” he said. Terming these kiosk hotels a blessing as they keep them from sleeping 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.

These food outlets were not only accommodating the labourers but almost all working class falling under low wages group. Afzal Hussain, a cleaner in an audit company in Blue Area said despite having stomach problem, he usually took his food from a nearby joint because it was affordable for him.

“The amount of money that is being charged by my office canteen for one meal can buy me five days meal from these points,” he added. An official of Capital Development Authority (CDA) told this agency that although these shops have been seized and fined heavily in the past by the authorities, they kept coming back.

“We have been launching drive to confiscate such food outlets time to time but they somehow manage to come back even if they have to use moving carts or small cars for their outlets,” he added.