Disabling click event of Controls in Table Data

I have a list of controls in a table data which is enclosed in a div tag as the parent tag , I want to disable the click events on my Power On and Power OFF button . Presently If I click the buttons a request is sent from my website to an IOT . I want to disable the click event on these two items .

Here is what my code looks like :

<table class="pure-table pure-table-horizontal" style="width: 90%;">
                    <thead>
                    <tr>
                        <th>#</th>
                        <th>Device Name</th>
                        <th>Status</th>
                        <th>Temperature (&#176; C)</th>
                        <th align="left">Action</th>
                    </tr>
                    </thead>

                    <tbody>

                    <% devices.forEach(function(device, i){ %>
                    <tr>
                        <td><%= (i + 1) %></td>
                        <td>
                            <%= device.name || device.macAddress %>
                        </td>
                        <td id="text_<%= device.id %>">
                            <% if (device.updateInProgress) { %>
                            <i class="fa fa-spinner fa-spin"></i>
                            <% } else if (device.powerState == false) { %>
                            <%= "Powered off" %>
                            <% } else if (device.startState == true) { %>
                            <%= "Running" %>
                            <% } else { %>
                            <%= "Not running" %>
                            <% } %>
                        </td>
                        <td>
                            <% if (device.updateInProgress){ %>
                            N/A
                            <% } else if (device.powerState) { %>
                            <div class="pure-g">
                                <div class="pure-u-1-4">
                                    <%= device.temperature %>
                                </div>

                                <!--I tried commenting this to remove temperature edit icon for single device-->

                                <!--<div class="pure-u-1-4">-->
                                    <!--<i class="fa fa-pencil-square-o" id="set_temp" data-value="<%= device.id %>"></i>-->
                                <!--</div>-->


                            </div>
                            <% } else { %>
                            N/A
                            <% } %>
                        </td>
                        <td align="left">
                            <a href='/user/startOff/<%= device.id %>?boxid=<%= id %>'
                               class="pure-button button-green <%= device.updateInProgress == true ? 'hidden' : device.powerState == false ? 'hidden' : device.startState == false ? 'hidden' : '' %>"
                               type="button">Start Off</a>

                            <a href='/user/startOn/<%= device.id %>?boxid=<%= id %>'
                               class="pure-button button-green <%= device.updateInProgress == true ? 'hidden' : device.powerState == false ? 'hidden' : device.startState == true ? 'hidden' : '' %>"
                               type="button">Start On</a>

                            <a href='/user/powerOff/<%= device.id %>?boxid=<%= id %>'
                               class="pure-button button-warning <%= device.updateInProgress == true ? 'hidden' : device.powerState == true ? '' : 'hidden' %>"
                               type="button">Power Off</a>

                            <a href="/user/powerOn/<%= device.id %>?boxid=<%= id %>"
                               class="pure-button <%= device.updateInProgress == true ? 'hidden' : device.powerState == true ? 'hidden' : '' %>"
                               type="button">Power On</a>

                            <a href="/user/deleteDevice/<%= device.id %>?boxid=<%= id %>"
                               class="pure-button button-error pull-right <%= device.updateInProgress == true ? 'hidden' : '' %>"
                               type="button ">
                                <i class="fa fa-times"></i>
                            </a>

                        </td>
                    </tr>
                    <% }) %>

                    </tbody>

                </table>

This is all running on a Node.js website .

Also ideally this is how the screen looks like with the current code :

I want the display to be exactly the same except the click events on "Power On" and "Power Off " should do nothing .

What I thought was to remove which I know is for making a link or a url active . But I am not able to fit the code without it .

Please help .