MARGAO
The controversial Sunburn music festival will take centre stage at the extra ordinary gram sabha of the Loutolim village panchayat scheduled on August 11.
The extra ordinary gram sabha has been convened by Sarpanch Sanfrancisco Fernandes following a requisition made by gram sabha members led by Xavier Fernandes and others.
The meeting notice issued by the Loutolim village panchayat created confusion in the minds of the people as they made inquiries whether the Loutolim panchayat received any proposal from Sunburn and whether the meeting has been convened to transact the proposal to hold Sunburn festival at the Loutolim-Verna plateau.
Sarpanch Sanfrancisco Fernandes, however, asserted that the Loutolim panchayat has till date not received any proposal from Sunburn to hold the festival on the Loutolim-Verna plateau. He said the panchayat has called for the extra ordinary gram sabha after a requisition was made by some gram sabha members to discuss Sunburn and to discuss the proposal to build a garbage handling project at Loutolim-Verna plateau.
Social activist and Loutolim gram sabha member Xavier Fernandes told The Goan that a group of gram sabha members have requisitioned the extra ordinary gram sabha to discuss and oppose the Sunburn music festival at the Loutolim-Verna plateau.
He said the concerned gram sabha members of Loutolim village panchayat had requested the sarpanch to hold the extra ordinary gram sabha meeting to discuss the urgent issues including the proposal to hold Sunburn festival at Loutulim-Verna plateau; the proposal to build a farbage handling project at Loutolim-Verna plateau and the issue of official recognition and equal status for Romi Konkani script. “We had made the request to the sarpanch to call an extra ordinary gram sabha meeting since the gram sabha members are deeply concerned about the above issues,” Xavier added.
The extra ordinary gram sabha meeting called by the concerned gram sabha members assumes significance and comes against the backdrop of a survey conducted by BookmyShow of the Verna plateau a week ago.
Local villagers, led by Arvind Menezes, social activist Zarinha Da Cunha, besides Congress leaders, Amit Patkar and Everson Vales, had confronted representatives of the BookmyShow company for conducting the survey of the Loutolim-Verna plateau suspecting that the survey of the land, including the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) land acquired by the IDC over a decade and half ago is aimed at preparing ground to shift the Sunburn festival to South Goa.
With the Goa Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) rejecting the permission to hold the Sunburn festival on the Quitol plateau, Quepem, speculation is rife whether the organisers will hold the festival on the Loutolim-Verna plateau in the event the venue is shifted to South Goa.
