VIBHA VERMA
PANJIM: Sunburn Klassique promoter Percept has decided that the two-day weekend event will not give away any complimentary ticket owing to the tax applicable on these passes.
“Besides zero tolerance to drugs, we have adopted another policy – zero complimentary tickets. If the free passes are issued then we have to pay 28 per cent tax. This is the law and I cannot shout out loud that we can’t pay tax on zero revenue tickets. As such, we took a call that there would be no complimentary tickets this time,” Chairman and Managing Director of Percept Limited Harinder Singh said in an interview with Herald.
The organiser, before shifting its festival to Pune after nearly a decade-long inning in Goa in 2016, had last time raised a query on why it should pay tax on complimentary passes/ free passes.
Another member of an organising committee in Supersonic had also sought to know government’s wisdom behind imposing tax on complimentary passes.
With the event’s homecoming, the organisers are also excited that differences with the government are on the verge of a logical solution. Singh said that talks with the Commercial Tax Department and Goa Police on non payment of the dues are set to be resolved along with resolution of Percept pending dues from the State. “The government has been very proactive in its approach to finding a resolution. We had a presentation to the Director General of Police Muktesh Chander on why we should not be charged the huge amount for police bandobast. A discussion was also held with the Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes on the entertainment fees; and we are hopeful that the matter will be resolved amicably,” Singh said.
Herald contacted DGP Chander on the latest development to which he said that the matter is under examination.
On the upcoming event, Singh said they are eager to host the event, franchise of which is given on a long term basis subject to success of the first one, to Goan Shailesh Shetty. “It is a nostalgic moment to be back to Goa and we had waited for long. Sunburn was born in Goa and it is incomplete. It’s tough to even imagine both, the festival and Goa, without each other. Due to certain circumstances we had to leave Goa but our heart and emotions were here in Goa,” he expressed stating that the organisers are impressed over Goa government proactive attitude on allowing the EDM in Goa.
Scheduled to be held at Vagator, Sunburn Klassique expects a crowd of 10,000 people. In an interesting comment, Singh said they would not want to be back to its earlier schedule in December but continue to host the festival in February even in future.
“February is a good time because people recover from December mood and it is also a time when the weather is good. We don’t want to go back to December because of infrastructure constraints and higher costs. February too has many international tourists and this festival will bring back domestic tourists too,” he commented.
If successful, Sunburn will consider another edition in November and maybe also monsoon next season, he added.
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TTAG excited with the upcoming event, citing it will boost tourists’ inflow
“We are very happy that Sunburn is back in Goa, we have been actively supporting cultural and music festivals as it boosts tourism. Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) is of the opinion that Goa should regularly host big events and the government should extend all support and not make it difficult with regard to permissions and offering facilities. It not only boosts tourist arrivals but helps many other stake holders like restaurants, taxis, vendors, etc,” TTAG President Savio Messias told Herald.
