The Steel City plunged into grief as the news of demise of former President APJ Abdul Kalam spread.
The former President and scientist had close relation with the city. He had visited Jamshedpur in 2000, 2002, 2004 and in 2011. He visited the city once as the president in 2004.
As mark of respect to the great person several English medium schools remained closed on Tuesday. loyola School, Carmel Junior College, Kerala Samajam Model School, Sacred Heart Convent School and many other schools decided to announce a day off.
"We observed silence in the school campus to pay him our respect. We also kept our campus closed. This was very little that we could to pay respect to the great personality," said Father Sebastian Puthenpura, principal, loyola School.
The oldest lions Club of combined Jharkhand and Bihar paid homage at a function held at Institutions of Engineers (India) Hall, Sakchi.
The Confederation of Indian Industry expressed deep loss at the demise of former President of India and Bharat Ratna recipient. “Dr APJ Abdul Kalam was a great motivator, a constant inspiration, and a unique mentor for India and Indian industry. His vision for a developed and technologically superior India motivated industry’s engagement in leveraging technology for competitiveness,” said Sumit Mazumder, president, CII.
NG Goswami, scientist, CSIR-NMl (National Metallurgical laboratory) said that Kalam was invited by the NMl on its golden jubilee in the year 2000. "He humble and always brimming new ideas. I consider myself lucky to have this opportunity to interact with him," said Goswami who is also the Head Information Management & Dissemination Centre at NMl. Kalam also released a book co-edited by P. Ramachandra Rao, the then director of NMl and Goswami.
In 2002, Kalam visited the city to receive the 18th Michael John Memorial lecture Medal by Tata Workers Union on March 23, 2002. The event was organised at the Micheal John auditorium in Bistupur.
The next time he visited Jamshedpur in Feb 13, 2004 as the president of India to attend a function organised by Tata Steel to celebrate '75 years of industrial harmony'.