Every year Goa achieves a new milestone in facilitating the illegalities of the mighty and powerful, those with the money and muscle power. As we inch closer to the New Year, clubs and event venues are all openly flouting the rules and in contempt of the judgments passed by the High Court. In complete disregard to the law and the top Courts of Goa, the electronic dance music (EDM) clubs in Anjuna, Vagator and Ashvem-Mandrem have advertised holding loud music parties all night long up till January 1, 2024. Locals inform that starting from December 23, there have been deafening parties and the authorities have not even blinked.
At the beginning of this year, on January 3, the High Court of Bombay at Goa rapped the Goa government for the failure to act against noise pollution during the Sunburn EDM festival held in December 2022. By the end of the year, earlier this month, the same Court passed the order stating that the permissions given to the controversial EDM in 2022 were illegal and that the authorities were guilty of granting permissions without following due process.
After a prolonged discussion over the number of days the Sunburn EDM be permitted to be held, the controversial mega festival will be held this year too. Once again there are apprehensions among the locals that the EDM will flout all the rules and in contempt of the Court will play loud music beyond the stipulated time. Though the Chief Minister has assured that no organiser or event will be allowed to disregard the rules, mixed signals from his cabinet colleagues do not resonate with his stand.
While on one hand EDMs, clubs and open-air music festivals are advertising, publicising and organising their events, on the other hand, Goans face the brunt of the executive shutting down the music at the designated time of 10 pm at wedding receptions and other community events. Goans adhering and abiding by the High Court orders shut down the music despite the lower decibels in comparison to the ear-shattering volume of the EDMs and other events.
In light of the violations and contempt of Court orders in 2022 and throughout 2023, the Court stated that high-ranking police officials, officers from the Goa State Pollution Control Board and the Collector/Deputy Collector must remain present at the Sunburn venue to monitor compliances. The High Court has further directed that if the authorities find noise pollution levels are being exceeded or breached, they should immediately halt the event and seize the sound-generating equipment.
The laws and related rules exist, however, villagers in the coastal belt of North Goa have been fighting for years to be able to have a good night’s sleep, especially in the days ahead of New Year’s Eve. While law-abiding Goans ‘suffer’, most of the venues that hold such high-decibel events are organised by the mighty who come to Goa every year just to make big money at the cost of the locals’ peace. The loud music at clubs continues unabated and villagers suffer the brunt of the deafening noise until dawn as the authorities turn a deaf ear to the complaints of the locals.
In the recent past, there has been a fierce debate about the kind of cultural legacy that will be carried forward by this generation. Sadly, the real threat is the present which is being destroyed despite constant reminders by the people who care and strive to safeguard Goa’s cultural legacy. The destruction in the name of tourism and revenue generation for the State needs to halt here and now, otherwise there will be no culture and legacy to pass on to the next generation.
It is more than obvious that the illegalities are being carried out with the political clout the organisers wield due to their money and muscle power. One wonders how and why the authorities and the political class choose to defend the indefensible. Why is it that what the villagers can see and are disturbed by, not visible and audible to them? When will the political class rise to being the real voice of the people and put an end to the cacophony?
