After a decade, the coastal belt of Bardez will not hold any electronic dance music (EDM) festivals this tourist season. The villagers of Anjuna and Candolim must be greatly relieved that the Christmas week will no longer be marked by huge crowds, traffic chaos and all-round confusion as was the case this past ten years.
The price paid in terms of strain in infrastructure and gross inconvenience caused to local residents is certainly not compensated for by the EDM festivals’ contribution to the local economy. Let alone “soft” contributions like image projection of Goa and increased hotel occupancy (which itself is doubtful, as the festivals occur during peak season), even pending dues of over Rs 2 crores have not been cleared.
The organisers seem to have conveniently forgotten to pay their debts, and instead have pulled out of Goa blaming the Government for not renewing their permissions. Sporadic media reports sympathetic to the organisers were also noted recently. Fortunately, the Tourism Department has not succumbed to this arm-twisting and the EDM festivals are indeed out.
