Heat’s silver lining: anti mosquito products, sunglasses sales soar

The scorching heat has become the bane of every citizen’s life, however, the one silver lining to the rising temperature has been for those dealing in anti-mosquito products and sunglasses, as their sales are on the rise.

Long hours of load shedding are coupled with the wrath of biting mosquitoes, which also include the lethal Dengue strain. To counter this, people in Islamabad and Rawalpindi have started purchasing anti-mosquito sprays, lotions, nets and electric devices in large quantities.

Shopkeepers in sectors G-7, G-10, I-10, F-10, Aabpara Super Market, Sadar, Commercial Market and Raja Bazaar informed that they had stocked up on these commodities as their demand was rising day by day.

One shopkeeper informed that sales of electronic mosquito killing devices had registered a 25 percent increase, despite the fact that administrations of both cities have been fumigating various areas to secure them against mosquitoes.

Moreover, the sale of low-priced low-quality sunglasses has also been on the rise despite their contribution to eye diseases among their users.

Substandard sunglasses’ sales have always goes unchecked. Customers, while being choosy about style, colour, price and brand name, show no concern about quality.

Vendors selling these sunglasses operate in all sectors of Islamabad including Super Market (F-6), Jinnah Super (F-7), Ayub Market (F-8) and on the sector F-9 park’s traffic signals and roadsides.

It was revealed during a survey that low-quality sunglasses are causing various eye diseases among the citizens.

Situated in Melody market, local optical dealer Asad Ali informed that most such vendors purchased defective sunglasses at cheaper rates from dealers who imported sunglasses from abroad, mostly China, adding that sunglasses rejected from ordered consignments were also being sold, mostly in Raja Bazaar, Rawalpindi.

A customer Awais said “Last year I bought a pair of sunglasses from a roadside vendor for Rs 100. After using them for two days, I developed eye infection symptoms, blurred vision, dizziness and watery eyes.”

The vendors on the other hand, said that they were selling high quality imported sunglasses. “I bought them from various cities in bulk and I know these glasses are not harmful to the eyes,” said Shahbaz Khan, a sunglasses vendor. When asked how he knew that they were Ultraviolet (UV) filtered sunglasses, Khan said that he was unacquainted with medical terminology, but all he knew was that he had sold these sunglasses to qualified opticians and shops in posh areas.

Blue Area’s Kulsum Plaza eye specialist Anjum Khawar said that qualified UV filtering sunglasses had good vision transparency, while low quality sunglasses resulted in visual distortion, leading to headaches, dizziness, blurred vision and other symptoms.