MARGAO
People from South Goa upped the ante against plans to shift the Sunburn in South Goa with social activists under the banner of Goyche Fudle Pilge Khatir sending a clear warning to the Sunburn organisers and the Goa BJP government that they will not permit events like Sunburn to destroy the peace, environment, culture, and impressionable minds of youngsters in South Goa.
Thursday saw people from South Goa coming together to voice their strong opposition to the proposed Sunburn festival being held in South Goa. This move comes close on the heels of BookMyShow executives being confronted by locals in the act of surveying a venue in the Verna Industrial Estate allegedly to hold the Sunburn festival, even though a large number of villages have taken gram sabha resolutions opposing the Sunburn festival in South Goa.
GFPK convenor Jack Mascarenhas said the Sunburn festival in fact is a classic manifestation of a destructive and decadent tourism policy that has been consistently undermining and corrupting the Goan image, its community values and way of life. “With the proposed advent of this contentious festival right in the midst of the State’s heaviest tourism period in the last week of December, the more peaceful quality of life in South Goa has now come under threat,” he said.
Given the past track record of the Goa government vis a vis past editions of Sunburn festival held in Goa, the activists demanded answers to a host of questions. One, why has the Sunburn festival been stigmatised by allegations of drug use and deaths due to drug overdose thus exposing the utter negligence of government regulatory authorities?
Saying there are around 70,000 people going into the festival, they asked how the government is going to check drugs.
Demanding to know the past track record of the Goa State authorities in monitoring and preventing breaches of law in festivals like Sunburn, they pointed out, “This is what the High Court of Bombay in Goa had to say in connection with the Sunburn edition held in Goa in December 2022.”
They added: “It is pretty clear that breeches or violations repeatedly occurred on all three days of EDM as per GSPCB reports. However, neither the GSPCB officials nor the police officials accept blame for preventing such breaches in the first place or failing to take stem action of confiscating or seizing equipment to at least stop further noise pollution.”
Saying the people of Goa cannot depend upon Goa State administration and law enforcement agencies, the activists said the High Court of Bombay in Goa has itself confirmed that the Goa administration has totally failed to show any capability or will to ensure that Sunburn maintains compliance with rules and regulations. “Nothing has changed since then as we have seen during the Independence Day weekend recently when North Goa villagers, reeling under the continuous deafening and mind altering music being played with impunity in violation of the law and regardless of health of residents and safety of children to the extent that they were compelled to come out on the streets in large numbers to voice their protest through candlelight procession,” they added.
Given Sunburn’s past track record, they questioned why should the State government even consider granting permission for the unwanted Sunburn festival in Goa and what gives the Sunburn organisers the confidence to sell online tickets much before the permissions are even obtained?
