A tweet by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 4 has affected Holi events in the steel city.

In a tweet on March 4, a week ahead of Holi, PM Modi said: “Experts across the world have advised to reduce mass gatherings to avoid the spread of COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus. Hence, this year I have decided not to participate in any Holi Milan programme.”

In Jamshedpur, organisers of a couple of Holi events have decided to cancel Holi events slated across this week to avoid public gatherings. Bookings are low in the events that are happening.

We Planners, a steel city event planning company decided to organise Jamshedpur Rang Barse 2020 a Holi event at Dhalbhum Club on Sunday. The fun-filled event included a live DJ, rain dance, performances, open mic, stand-up comedy and an elaborate lunch but people started cancelling their plans as soon as they read or heard about PM Modi’s tweet on reducing mass gathering.

“Earlier, we had got around 180 bookings but as soon as the PM tweeted, we starting receiving calls for refunds. People started saying their families were scared about taking part in such a mass gathering when the PM had tweeted about the global scare. So we decided to cancel the party or else we would have suffered a huge loss. We have refunded the entire amount to people,” said Prabhat Kumar, owner of We Planners.

The Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), which had decided on their annual Holi Milan on March 14, also cancelled it on Sunday.

“This is for everyone’s safety. Why not?” general secretary of SCCI Bharat Vasani said. “Who knows if the people that you are playing Holi with are not infected. We should not take chances. So, it was unanimously decided to cancel the event this year,” he added.

JCI Royal, a Jamshedpur organisation, is however organising Rangotsav at The Alcor hotel on March 10.

The passes here costs Rs 2,400 for couple and Rs 1,000 for children between eight and 16 years. When asked, the organisers refused to divulge the number of bookings.

Other event organisers who have their events slated on March 10 are still in a dilemma. “Our proposed Holi event is all about on the spot registration at Emerald Wedding Lawn in Contractor’s Area, so we don't know what to do yet. We might take a final call tomorrow (Monday),” said Shubham Surve, one of the organisers.