Tribals celebrate Makar Sankranti at Jahersthan in Kadma on Thursday; Devotees perform rituals before taking a holy dip in Damodar in Dhanbad. Pictures by Srinivas and Gautam Dey

Jamshedpur, Jan. 14: Owners of industrial units at Adityapur have little to cheer about as work has virtually come to a standstill in the state’s largest industrial zone for the ongoing Tusu festival.

Despite a pressing workload, no production will take place in most of the units till tomorrow as the majority of workers are on leave for the festival. Industrialists maintained that it would take a week to resume normal production.

“Most of the industrial units have declared two-day holiday for Tusu festival. But most of the workers will stay away on Saturday and Sunday as well. We expect to resume around 60 per cent of normal production from Monday,” said general secretary of Adityapur Small Industries Association (ASIA), Santosh Khaitan.

He added that around 70 per cent of 20,000 employees in Adityapur Industrial Area (AIA) were tribals. Admitting that the industrial units would face production loss during this time, president of ASIA S.N. Thakur said the daily production in AIA stood at around Rs 10 crore per day.

The festival has also created problems at the Tata Motors ancillary units based in AIA that have been set steep targets. Around 70 per cent of the units in AIA manufacture spare parts for the automobile giant.

Not only industrial units, most of the eateries in the city have been hit as well.

Known for its South Indian dishes, Hotel Anand at Bistupur will remain closed till January 21. Similarly, Madrasi Hotel downed its shutter on January 13 and is expected to open after a week.

The closure of hotels and eateries has left many, including students, in the lurch. “Being a student I cannot afford to frequent big hotels and restaurants. I will probably have to cook myself,” said Sudhir Prasad, a student of Jamshedpur Cooperative College.