TEAM HERALD
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PANJIM: The plot regarding film shooting within Panjim city limits grew thicker on Thursday with the Campal Residents’ Association and the Mayor of Panjim promising to ban film shoots in the city until the council meets and takes a decision.
The decision comes in the face of the opposition demanding an explanation from the Mayor over reports that a corporator was extorting money from the film shooting crew and the Campal Residents’ Association claiming that they do not want any film shooting in their area.
“We will call a special meeting of the council and take a decision on film shootings in the State,” Furtado said, adding that the very reason why the Corporation of the City of Panaji had hiked the fees was to discourage film producers from choosing the city as a locale for their filming.
The Opposition corporators led by former Mayor Vaidehi Naik and others confronted the Mayor demanding a statement from him over allegations made against Kabir Makhija Pinto, in a section of the press.
The Mayor responded by saying that, unless the matter is reported to the police and the allegations are verified, nothing can be done.
Earlier, the Campal Residents’ Association (CRA) said that they were legally collecting money from the producers in the form of a donation for their association given that the film producers were taking benefit of the locale while it was they who were painting and maintaining their houses.
“It’s like this, if you want to film in our locales and use our well maintained architecture for your films, then you might as well give us something for the upkeep of our houses and infrastructure,” Patricia Pinto of the CRA said.
They also elaborated on the severe inconvenience they have to face during film shoots especially restrictions in movement, having to keep silent during film shoots and not play any music and worse she said was the issue of security and safety with many of the film crew sleeping at location as well as causing nuisance by cooking meals in the open for their crew.
“If the Goan line producers for films feel that giving a donation to the association for maintenance of the area which will ultimately benefit them too, amounts to extortion, we would advise them to find any other location and leave the Campal heritage area out of their films. It is they who want to derive benefit from the facades of houses in this area that is maintained by the residents themselves and who receive no help from the government whatsoever,” Pinto asserted.
