E-Paper
Residents cancel Holi celebrations in Delhi
New Delhi:
New Delhi:
A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Rashtrapati Bhawan tweeted about not attending any Holi celebrations as a precautionary measure against the novel coronavirus, a number of residents’ welfare and trader associations in the city and NCR towns followed suit and cancelled their planned Holi festivities.
Traders also said the spread of the virus has led to a decrease in the demand for Chinese Holi-related goods.
The residential welfare association (RWA) of Mukherjee Nagar (east) was one of the first ones to cancel its ‘Holi Milan’ festival on Thursday. “After the appeal by PM Modi to all citizens, the governing body of our colony held a meeting and decided to cancel the Holi celebration scheduled on Sunday (March 8). Various agencies have issued advisories asking people to avoid large gatherings. We are following that,” said Om Prakash Ahuja, general secretary of the Mukherjee Nagar (east) Residents’ Vikas Samiti.
A number of RWAs are issuing advisories to their residents about the dos and don’ts to avoid the spread of the virus. RWAs in Anand Niketan in south Delhi’s Vasant Enclave, Dwarka, Balbir Nagar in Shahdara, Pitampura and CR Park confirmed about festivities being cancelled in their respective neighbourhoods.
Those living in E-block Greater Kailash-1 were informed through the colony’s WhatsApp group that their Holi function was been postponed. “In GK-1, we had started preparations for our annual Holi Milan, which was to be held on March 9 evening. It was to take place at the central park but last night the management took a unanimous decision to postpone the event till Baisakhi in view of the rise in Covid-19 (coronavirus) cases in Delhi-NCR and other places. Precaution is better than cure,” said KK Sharma, a member of the GK-1 RWA in E-block.
Among the traders, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) sent messages to traders across the national Capital, informing them about the organisation’s event planned on Sunday being cancelled.
The CAIT said the increasing number of cases had adversely affected businesses. “Coronavirus has generated unnecessary panic across the country, which has badly impacted markets, including in Delhi. Consumers are refraining from visiting markets, resulting in a gradual loss in business,” said BC Bhartia, national president, CAIT.
The associations said the fear has also affected the sale of Holi products ,which mostly come from China. Over 3,000 people have died in China from the coronavirus outbreak, as per updated records released on Thursday.
“Importers of Chinese goods are in a fix as they are now left with a lot of unsold inventory. As per CAIT’s estimates, Holi-related Chinese goods worth about Rs 500 crore are lying with importers of Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai, whereas, as goods worth Rs 3,000 crore are lying in various supply chains across the country,” said Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general, CAIT.
