Organisers of popular Electronic Dance and Music (EDM) festival Sunburn, Percept Live, have announced dates of its 15th edition of the event from December 28 to 30 at Vagator with a promo titled “Let’s Live. Love. Dance. Again.” The organisers have promised to follow all government-imposed protocols while assuring that only fully vaccinated people will be allowed entry along with a slew of other logistical measures. The registration page on bookmyshow.com has a tag named “filling fast” with close to 2000 people clicking “interested”, and registrations are scheduled to close on Wednesday.
One of the terms and conditions mentions that the show is subject to government permissions, with an offer of a refund only for an outright cancellation of the show, not for a rescheduled one. While Sunburn caught the attention of the people, there are other upcoming parties listed -- one titled Mad Halloween at Hilltop Vagator and the New Year’s Eve party, indicating that Goa has already got into the party groove.
Surprisingly, Tourism Minister Manohar Babu Ajgaonkar has stated that the government has not yet given permission to Sunburn and that he has not received the file yet. We see Ajgaonkar’s enthusiasm in getting tourism kick-started, but we cannot comprehend the government’s willingness to consider mega entertainment events when the Covid haze is still in the air. Despite a significant decrease in new infections, health authorities across India have been warning of a possible third wave of Covid.
It is rather intriguing that registrations for Sunburn are thrown open even before an in-principle approval is given. Ajgaonkar may be feigning ignorance for reasons best known to him, but there is something amiss here. An EDM of the scale of Sunburn, whose budget runs into crores of rupees and which involves scheduling, prior booking of international performers and making their travel plans, there can’t be an uncertain itinerary.
Sunburn festival draws massive crowds and could turn into a Covid super-spreader since people will flock in from other States. The organisers have announced Covid certificate checks and other compliance of appropriate measures, but managing such crowds and enforcing protocols are logistical nightmares that can only backfire on the State because the State enforcement will not be in a position to oversee operations. Time and again, we have seen our policing failing to enforce protocols on even a moderate crowd of tourists.
Ajgaonkar appears inclined towards EDM and music festivals of mass following and even uses Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reference to restart tourism activities. Let’s not forget, it was the tourism minister’s insistence and his infamous line “the show must go on” that Goa found itself in a tight situation last time. Yes, tourism is needed for the economy of the State, but not at the cost of people’s health. Goa may have opened its gates to tourism and allied activities to bail itself out of a sinking financial situation, but such extravagance could only take us back in time and push us further into the throes of disaster.
Furthermore, the current easing of the virus is no assurance that we are headed for better days, and hence staying alert and cautious would be a sensible approach till such a time when we can safely say that the worst is behind us. The emerging delta variants in Europe and the vaccine response on these will have to be looked into.
Goa is not ready for mass entertainment events. Yes, there is a lull, but that doesn’t call for complacency, because even before the deadly second wave could strike, there was a slowdown. We only hope the government doesn’t misread this silence of the invisible enemy.
