Khyber          -        The habit of newspapers’ reading has been decreased in Landi Kotal area of Khyber district as Covid-19 has badly affected the people. 

According to the residents of the area, due to poor financial condition they prefer to meet their daily expenses instead of spending money on buying newspapers. 

The newspaper hawkers were of the view that in pre-corona period, they used to sale more than 1350 newspapers daily which had been reduced to 850 in post-corona time. 

Scores of regular readers have given up buying newspapers after Corona spread because they could not afford extra-financial burden. 

Noor Wali, a newspaper hawker, said that unemployment and social media were the main cause of decrease in sales of the newspapers in the area. “Customers keep themselves informed through Facebook, twitter etc, where fresh news is available round the clock,” he added. 

Bilal Shinwari, beverages and biscuit wholesale dealer and a regular reader of Urdu daily, said that his business had also been badly affected by Corona epidemic and was compelled to reduce his expenditures including buying newspapers regularly. 

Juma Khan, main distributor of national dailies The Nation, Dawn, Express Tribune and other Urdu newspapers in Peshawar, said the business of newspapers was on the verge of collapse as it had been reduced to almost 60 percent in the whole province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.