SATURDAY, JULY 27, 2024
Team Herald
PANJIM: The Glowfest Lantern festival planned in the eco-sensitive area at Morjim on Saturday, May 25, has now been can cancelled.
Following Pernem Deputy Collector asking the Mandrem Police Station to deploy necessary police force and maintain strict vigil to ensure that Lantern Festival is not held on the Morjim beach on May 25, Pernem DySP Jivba Dalvi told O Heraldo that the Mandrem Police on Thursday called the organiser Yatin Chawla to the police station, and took an undertaking from him that he will not hold the festival in the eco-sensitive zone at Vithaldaswada, Morjim, where there is an Olive Ridley Turtle nesting site.
The police categorically told Chawla to take prior permission from the authority concerned to hold the event without fail or not to hold such event on the beach and not to disturb the ecological setup.
Pernem Deputy Collector Shivprasad Naik said that the Mandrem police will produce the organisers before him on Friday afternoon, under Section 107 CrPC.
He said that the question of cancelling does not arise because it is an eco-sensitive zone and so permission cannot be granted.
Taking to his Instagram account, the organiser Goafornia Beach Lounge, stated, “We are not a venue partner for Lantern Festival. We cancelled the event.”
Director of Tourism Suneel Anchipaka, said, “The department has not received any application from the organisers to conduct the Lantern Festival and no permission has been granted for the same. Necessary action has been initiated in this regard. We have been focusing on promoting regenerative tourism and we shall not allow any event which threatens the ecology or the environment.”
The Wildlife Division of Forest Department too had objected to the festival. The tickets for the festival were priced at Rs 550 per head and the same were also made available online. But with all the authorities denying that permissions, the organisers cancelled the festival.
