VAGATOR (GOA) In yet another shocking incident, 24 year old Phanideep Khota died in hospital after collapsing at the venue of “Asia’s biggest music festival”, Sunburn Klassique, on the concluding day of the annual EDM event held in Vagartor , North Goa
He collapsed while attending the music festival on Sunday night and had to be shifted to a hospital in Anjuna. This follows 2 deaths 2 days ago outside the festival venue, of friends who collapsed at the same time. Goa opposition parties have alleged these were drug related.
The incident happened inside the venue of the EDM festival, billed as Asia’s biggest. But the size of the event is almost directly proportional to the controversies it generates and the common allegation of the festival’s linkages, though indirect, with the sale and consumption of drugs. While there has been no allegation or even information to remotely suggest that the festival itself supports drugs, incidents of festival goers collapsing, falling ill and even dying, have become recurrent.
This year’s festival has already witnessed two deaths. On day one, two young men from Andhra Pradesh died outside the festival venue. As is always the case the post mortem of their bodies was conducted and the cause of death reserved as their viscera need to be sent to a forensic laboratory outside the state. The inordinate delay in the arrival of this report, sometimes after months, or even close to a year, allows the heat to die down in each case. That is the pattern which has been followed. In the case of the two recent deaths, the sequence of events seems to be familiar
The opposition in Goa has been up in arms, naturally. The Goa Forward Party (GFP) has questioned whether the drug lobby is the new funding machine of the BJP. In a series of tweets, GFP vice president Durgadas Kamat said “Government is responsible for the deaths of three youngsters over the last two days. Tourism Minister Babu Ajgaonkar has paid lip service on the issue of drugs saying there are no drugs available in and around the venue (of SunBurn)” He further alleged that the Anti Narcotics cell was used as a “lapdog of the government”. In an unprecedented manner, the ANC issued a statement, in a matter which it is not even directly investigating, ruling out drug overdose as the cause of the two deaths. This statement was issued barely hours before the third incident of the Bangalore boy collapsing and dying later. It further went onto add that there was ‘no case of drug abuse has been reported at Sunburn”
This shocker of a statement was issued even before the viscera report of the two boys who died on the first day of the festival was sent for testing. The GFP Vice president, Kamat demanded that the CBI should take over the probe in the cause of deaths at the EDM festival
The deaths at Sunburn has irked senior members of the ruling BJP in Goa too. Former BJP Goa president and ex Minister and Speaker, Rajendra Arlerkar has said “Do we really need events like Sunburn to promote tourism. Can we not redefine our priorities”
Earlier, in a letter to the Chief Minister, Goa Pradesh Youth Congress (GPYC) president Varad Mardolkar has demanded that the organisers of Sunburn, be booked and arrested immediately.
Meanwhile, the Leader of the Opposition Digambar Kamat on Sunday urged the Government to act before Goa is branded as “drug destination.” In a press statement issued, Kamat has urged Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant to act before the ‘Bhasmasura of Drugs’ converts Goa into ashes.
While some ministers in the Goa government are backing the Sun Burn EDM festival, with Tourism Minister Babu Ajgaonkar, going as far to say there should be two such festivals in North and South Goa, public and opposition angst and anger is slowly building up against the perception that Goa’s already tarnished image of a drug capital, gets further highlighted and linked to EDM festivals, especially the ones on such a large scale.
GFP’s Kamat took a further dig at the Tourism Minister in a tweet on the Minister’s comment that Sunburn had a turnover of RS 250 crores in three days “We would like to ask, which formula did he use to arrive at this calculation. Is this to calculate 30% or 40%. Secondly a private party organized the EDM. How did Babu ( Tourism Minister Ajgaonkar) arrive at the figure? Was he a partner?
