PUNE Many events and conferences have been cancelled or postponed to curtail the spread of Covid-19 (coronavirus) cases, according to civic officials.
Deepak Mhaisekar, divisional commissioner, said, “Events, conferences and social gatherings taking place in hotels and wedding halls should be cancelled and no public events should be held in the city.”
The civic administration has also cancelled events like World Consumer Day which was to be held at Swargate Bus Depot on March 15, district level competitions and cultural programmes too are now cancelled.
District collector Naval Kishore Ram, said “We have asked organisers of various events and have also appealed people not to attend social gatherings or visit places such as temples like Shirdi.”
Other events which stand cancelled or postponed include the Sant Tukaram Mahostav organised by the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) which was supposed to be held from March 13 to 15, ‘Sanchari’ a film festival on various dance forms which was supposed to be held on march 14 and 15 at the National Film Archive of India (NFAI). The festival was being organised by Kalavardhini Charitable Trust and Loud Applause Dance Magazine.
Neha Muthiyan, organiser of the film festival, said, “We are postponing the programme due the Covid-19 threat. The government has advised to avoid public gathering so we are taking precautions. We are not worried about the ticket sale as it was a free event. We are yet to decide when to organise it next.”
{{/usCountry}}Neha Muthiyan, organiser of the film festival, said, “We are postponing the programme due the Covid-19 threat. The government has advised to avoid public gathering so we are taking precautions. We are not worried about the ticket sale as it was a free event. We are yet to decide when to organise it next.”
{{/usCountry}}Another event, a Hinglish play to support diabetic children, Dekh Behen’ organised by Jaws Events, was to be held at The Ritz- Carlton on March 15 too had to be postponed.
Jehan Sataravala of Jaws Events, said, “We have cancelled the show as a precautionary measure. We are not happy postponing the show as all the tickets were sold out and we have incurred a loss, but at this moment I think it is right to cancel the programme.”
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) too was organising a two-day national conference on “Bank Audit” at Hotel J W Marrriott where 1,000 people had registered, but now has been postponed the dates for which will be announced later, said, CA Abhisek Dhamane, President ICAI, Pune.