Sales of cold drinks, carbonated beverages and ice cream have increased in the federal capital with rising temperatures, with citizens thronging to parks and other recreational places in the evenings.
Taking advantage of the heat, small vendors and handcart pushers have established their stalls and sale points on roadsides. They attract customers by colourfully displayed beverages.
A handcart pusher, Zafar Abbas told that he sold red coloured beverages every summer and earned enough money as this was peak season for the cold drinks business. He said that pedestrians and motorists alike stopped by his cart and fought the heat by drinking tall glasses of ice cold liquid.
The residents said that it was natural to consume more beverages in the scorching heat, adding that electricity load shedding in their neighbourhoods made the heat worse, compelling people to come out and seek refreshment.
Lake View Point residents said that they visit parks and other recreational places in the evenings at least once a week and frequent markets as spending time at home was very difficult given the heat and the power outages. They held that the public would swarm the streets protesting against the electricity crisis if it were not for these recreational outlets.