PANAJI
With the State government officially denying permission for the Sunburn Electronic Dance Music (EDM) festival on December 31, organisers claim they will refund tickets purchased for that particular day.
The Empowered Committee under the Goa Tourism Board which met on Monday, resolved to refuse permission for Sunburn on December 31 and also to restrict the event’s timing up to10 pm instead of the customary midnight and beyond, on all three days from December 28-30.
A visibly upset Chairman and Managing Director of Percept Ltd Harinder Singh assured a refund to ticket holders for December 31. “If you have purchased the ticket, money will definitely be refunded. Check the ticket, every ticket mentions ‘subject to government permission’…” he said replying to media questions at the Tourism Department, where the meeting was convened.
“Check when the permissions have come in the last 18 years… The permission process takes time and if we sell the tickets last minute, how many will buy? For this reason, we sell advance tickets and people are aware that if it (event) doesn’t happen, they will get a refund,” he added in a bid to justify their stand in going ahead with selling tickets from December 28-31 despite opposition from the people and pending government decision.
Putting speculations to rest, Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte said that even Chief Minister Pramod Sawant concurred with the decision to host Sunburn on its traditional dates, from December 28 to 30, and opposed the extended date of December 31.
“I had said it before, and saying it even now that Sunburn (organisers) cannot make the government dance to its tunes. I discussed the matter with the CM and he agreed that we won’t allow this EDM on December 31. Our small local business hubs, which heavily rely on this day for a good earning, should not be affected,” the minister said.
He further went on to state that the government has also decided to restrict the EDM's timing till 10 pm, although the organisers sought permission from 4 pm till midnight. “If he (Singh) thinks they can manage to get permission to play music beyond this time, then ‘no’. They are allowed from December 28-30 from 4 pm to 10 pm only,” Khaunte added.
The minister also explained the provisional NOC which, he stated, speaks about obtaining “necessary permissions” for the final NOC. “The organisers had only mentioned they are holding the festival at their usual venue at Vagator on comunidade land. There were no details of the land, etc. They are not allowed beyond December 30,” he said.
Speaking first to The Goan last week, Khaunte had stated that Sunburn would not be permitted on December 31 even though the event organisers were selling tickets for the originally scheduled festival dates.
