Anjali Verma (name changed on request), a marketing professional from Bangalore, was excited
to have her three friends from Delhi come to meet her over the
Republic-Day-long-weekend. But little did she know that more drama was in store
as her friends convinced her to drive to Goa to partake in GOAT, a music
festival that was scheduled to happen at Por Do Sol in Ashvem from January 26
to 28, 2018.
Narrating her unpleasant experience,
Anjali says, “It was completely stupid. Despite reaching the venue in the
morning, on January 26, the organisers had no clue of what was happening even
at 3 pm. The organisers were running away and were unwilling to face the
clueless public. They then announced that they were changing the venue, but we
later learnt that they were actually just out of approvals. They then asked
everyone to go to Pinakin for the after party; that got busted too. We gave in
to the hype and drove 12 hours to reach Goa only to find no information. We
spent the entire day at the venue and waited until the next day. We then
decided to leave because there was no development whatsoever.”
Like Anjali, many music lovers who had
travelled from far to make the most of the long weekend, were left red faced as
the three-day music festival failed to take off. The second edition of GOAT was
cancelled following restrictions from the state authorities. Police Inspector
of Pernem Police Station, Sandesh Chodankar, said that the organisers of GOAT
had never sought for permission from the appropriate authority. The police
officer further clarified that the owner of the venue had asked for the required
permissions for the music festival but it was rejected by the Deputy Collector
of Pernem. The organisers of the festival were going ahead with the three-day
music festival despite not having the permission from the authorities, knowing
that the permission sought by the owner of the venue had being rejected.
To
make matters worse, the festival goers had purchased tickets for the festival,
ranging from around Rs 3000 – 5000 per person, from Insider.com, and with the
festival failing to happen, have not yet received refunds. Right from the
second day onwards, the ticket holders began to express their anguish on GOAT’s
official Facebook page, asking for either clarity on the situation or refund –
and got neither of the two, further aggravating the situation. A user by the
name of Love Bucket had posted on Facebook: “Please acknowledge refund requests
for full weekend ticket holders. Taking our money in return for a 1 day event
featuring a fraction of the acts advertised is fraudulent and thievery. Have some
respect for the people that have paid for absolutely nothing but bad vibes.”
In the recent past, a
number of music festivals in Goa have been denied permissions by the state
authorities. While this has left music lovers and organisers complaining, it is
important to note that, according to police sources, most of these festivals
have failed to secure adequate clearances. This development also comes in the
wake of a number of politicians, including the Chief Minister, expressing a
strong will to curb abuse of narcotics and other illegalities associated with
illegal music and dance parties in Goa.
