Percept, the organisers of the Sunburn, in their Facebook page, have said they have shifted the venue after facing hurdles in obtaining permission from the Goa government. Goa has been hosting the Sunburn Festival for the past nine years.
Sunburn’s official FB page says the venue has been shifted to Kesnand district of Pune and is scheduled to take place from December 28 to 31.
However, the Sunburn official Facebook page on Friday said that “9 years at the SUNBURN Festival home in Goa had been amazing. We have had full support from the state & everyone there and each & everyone one of you. This year the story changed a bit, maybe due to infrastructure constraints or forthcoming elections. With months having passed since our application was filed for Sunburn10 to be held in Goa; we still wait for an official response from the Goa Government and local authorities. We have been waiting patiently for months for a clear direction to emerge but unfortunately that hasn’t happened.”
Meanwhile, the Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar on Saturday said told Herald that the state government was ready to issue permission for organising the tenth edition of Sunburn in the State of Goa provided the Rs 2 crore dues are paid to the police department.
Only after Percept pays the due to the police department the green signal would be given to the organisers, said Parulekar.
“We cannot issue permission until the organisers pay the dues and hence they were free to move their venue,” said Parulekar.
“The government was always open to hold such Electronic Dance Music (EDM) festivals like Sunburn, as Goa is a touristic place and people come here to enjoy. I have always welcomed such festivals, but the organisers had to first clear the dues, only after which a green signal would have been given to the festival. It was up to the organisers, whether they wanted to hold the festival in Goa or in some other state,” he added.
“The organisers had to sit with the management committee, which is headed by the Chief Secretary, and discuss the issues and clear whatever dues are pending,” he said
Meanwhile, the Sunburn organisers Percept had stated that they had filed an application with the state government for hosting the tenth edition of Sunburn but till now they had not received any formal reply related to the permission and have decided to move out of the state.
However, Sunburn organisers earlier said they had kept their options open and might hold Sunburn either in Maharashtra or Delhi, if the Goa government does not approve the four-day event starting on December 27, but now Sunburn has confirmed that the tenth edition will take place in Pune.
