Team Herald
PANJIM: The Goa government is awaiting communication from the Centre to go ahead with organizing 51st edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in the last week of November, considering the COVID-19 situation.
In a written reply placed during the recently held one-day session of the State Legislative Assembly, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant said considering the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, no communication has been received from the Government of India regarding organisation of the 51st IFFI till date.
The budget estimate prepared by the Government for organising IFFI 2020 is around Rs 16 crore, Sawant said in a question tabled by Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat.
The IFFI is annually held between November 20 and 28. Recently, the Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar, has unveiled the poster and the booklet for the festival.
When contacted, Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) vice president Subhash Phal Desai said the State is prepared to host IFFI 2020 edition. “Goa only provides infrastructure. The call about hosting of IFFI has to be taken by Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF),” he said.
The State has been hosting IFFI since 2004. Nearly 10,000 delegates from India and across the globe attend the nine-day event.
