PANJIM: Granting permission to the two electronic dance music (EDM) festivals at Candolim and Vagator indicates that Goa government has blatantly defied Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority’s (GCZMA) findings about the venues not ideal for hosting such mega events.
As the four-day long Sunburn and Supersonic music fests are set to conclude on Wednesday, Laxmikant Parsekar-led government’s ‘give a damn’ attitude to GCZMA’s crucial observations raises many questions. The meeting on May 26, 2015 had also suggested shifting of the venues away from the coastal belt to alternate sites in South Goa.
While a fresh meeting was held on December 21 when the two festivals had already received in-principal nod from the government, sources said that GCZMA agreed this year will be these shows will get last permission for holding EDM at Candolim – venue for Viacom 18’s Supersonic. On the other hand, Goa Tourism has partnered with Sunburn when the organising agency is yet to pay long pending dues to the Goa police.
In its earlier meeting, the GCZMA members had pointed out significant human impact in the no development zone at Candolim while it suggested designating Vagator as a permanent venue to hold festivals and exhibitions provided the owners/local residents agree to it and the inland hill slope is not tampered with.
“The site at Candolim (venue for Supersonic) cannot be rented out for such a large magnitude of commercial events as the area constitutes a sand dune complex, classified as CRZ-1 where no activity can be permitted. Any future activity at this site needs to be banned,” it stated.
A year-ago on December 31, a day after the Sunburn and Supersonic concluded at Vagator and Candolim respectively, two GCZMA members Dr Antonio Mascarenhas and Dr Nitin Sawant inspected the sites to study whether these activities could damage the sensitive coast.
While the environmental situation at Candolim was found to be damaged, the report concluded that Vagator in comparison was better except for the scattered plastic waste and nominal damage. With Vagator located outside the NDZ and comprising of a stable hill top, the GCZMA stated ‘the site seems to be ideally suited for such purposes’ besides suggesting making it a permanent venue for exhibitions and festivals.
The State Level Permission Committee (SLPC) had last month communicated to the government to take over decision-making from the EDM organizers over the venues and dates as these have been an annual problem. With none willing to shift the dates considering rising inflow of party-lovers they attract during the last week of every December and the venues they select without taking into consideration the stakeholders, the SLPC had suggested that government henceforth decide the dates and venues from the next year.
CM Parsekar partially intervened into the matter announcing that EDMs should not be held from December 15 to January 15, but has maintained complete silence over the shifting of venues. With Sunburn expected to shift to Baga, again not a GCZMA recommended venue; there is nothing spoken about replacing Candolim with another site.
