Jamshedpur, Jan. 12: Rule out food in an evening out during Makar Sankranti.

Around 50-odd food joints and confectioneries in the city will be affected due to the biggest tribal festival of the region, as labourers, hailing mostly from SC and ST communities take their yearly leave.

Unlike any major festival, including Durga Puja and Diwali, this is one time when eatery owners are compelled to shut their joints. As workers make merry in their villages, urban revellers have to grin and bear the forced Tusu phenomenon. Makar Sankranti is colloquially known as Tusu Parab.

This year, tribals will celebrate Makar Sankranti from January 14-16, while merrymaking, as usual, continues for longer. So food joints will shut shop on January 13, a day before Makar Sankranti and up shutters only after a minimum of six days.

“It is difficult economically but there is no other way. Tusu is the main festival of almost all labourers. Your workers are your assets and they work hard to make the joint popular. Our restaurant will probably be closed from tomorrow as all my 17 labourers will take leave,” said Jayesh Amin, owner of Anand, a food joint in Bistupur famed for its South Indian fare.

Achintam Gupta, proprietor of Misti, a popular sweet shop, tried to work around the problem by employing a mix of workmen from Purulia and Burdwan districts of Bengal. “My Purulia workers will be away from tomorrow. Managing orders at this time of the year is a huge challenge. But still it is their festival,” said Gupta.

Hotels face this problem but to a lesser extent. As Jamshedpur Hoteliers’ Association president Prabhakar Singh said: “Around 15-20 per cent of staff take leave during Tusu. Hotels manage with others.”

The construction sector is another big loser. In fact, sites are generally closed with about 95 per cent construction work affected.

“Labourers take leave for four or five days, but it extends in most cases,” said Sanjay Singh, executive director with construction company Vastu Vihar.

“You can’t stop labourers from meeting their family during Tusu. So we are prepared nowadays. We clear their wages before and they take leave for 10 days,” said Raja Mandal, owner of NR Developers.