Dubai: Meet the Deira cart-pullers who toil day and night to keep businesses alive

The business hub of Dubai, Deira have people from many walks of life. The logistical force goes unnoticed and toils from morning until evening. They are the driving force behind the businesses in Deira- they are the cart-pullers.

As the clock strikes 8, decked in kurta pyjama (an outfit of Indian subcontinent) sipping chai, thousands of cart-pullers are seen waiting to be hired on the streets of Deira markets. Some recently joined this business, while others have been in the profession since the early 1970s.

Usually hailing from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, the cart-pullers are either freelancers or hired on work for local businesses,

One among thousands of cart-pullers is Abdul Khaliq, a Pakistani expat from Azad Kashmir who came to Dubai in the mid-1980s.

"I came here when I was just 15 years old," Abdul Khaliq says. He recalls it was difficult to obtain a Dubai visa, but he was lucky enough to get Umm al Quwain's visa.

"I paid about 1,500 Pakistani rupees for a ticket to Dubai," he added.

Khaliq's father was working at a local store in the city as a cart-puller and brought Khaliq to Dubai for education.

"I wasn't interested to study," he jokingly recalled.

He started to work as an assistant to various professions. As he learned how to move goods from one place to another, he hired a cart to operate in Naif and Murshid bazaar.

"I was 23, when I hired a cart for myself. There were very few cart-pullers back then. And shop owners and buyers hunted for us to get their work done. We never had time to relax."

He also mentioned that the people who hired them was happy to pay the requested amount.

Back then, the small Deira market was in its initial stages of catering to several countries in Asia and Africa.

"The only market here was the Gold souk and Murshid bazaar," Khaliq added. "As the market grew, cart pullers also grew in number."

Khaliq said that the market where he currently operates used to be a barren sandlot with a few one-storey villas. "It was very difficult to pull cart here on soil and sand, and the carts were huge, made of wood."

The cart-pullers in the Deira market believe that they are over 20,000 in numbers who move goods. They call themselves as one of the driving forces behind Deira's business.