PANJIM: Opposed to the holding of Sunburn Electronic Dance Music (EDM) festival on New Year’s Eve, the villagers of Vagator and surrounding areas, on Saturday strongly demanded that the organisers should not be given permission to hold the festival on the fourth day i.e. December 31.
Addressing a press conference, the villagers alleged that the Sunburn organizers had taken the locals and all other authorities including the village panchayat for granted by advertising on their official website sale of tickets two months prior to the festival.
The locals said that they are not opposed to holding the festival for the first three days and vowed that under no circumstances that they will allow the festival to be held on December 31.
“We should have been taken into confidence but they (organizers) have taken us and Anjuna-Caisua village panchayat for granted. Even today tickets are being sold for the fourth day i.e. December 31 and we will not allow it to happen,” Gajanan Tilve, a Vagator resident.
Reacting to the assurances made by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and local MLA Delilah Lobo, the villagers said that there was no confirmation from the organizers about the same that there will be no event on New Year’s Eve.
Former Anjuna-Caisua panchayat member Hanumant Govekar said that it is for the first time that the Sunburn organizers have announced the festival for four days instead of the usual three days.
They have been holding the festival at Vagator for the last few years but never extended it to December 31. He apprehended that if they (organizers) are granted permission for the fourth day it will cause traffic congestion and also affect people attending midnight mass and to also those visiting the coastal areas for New Year celebrations.
Govekar said that they are not opposed to holding the EDM festival for three days but holding it on New Year’s Eve was unacceptable and hence it should be allowed.
Another villager said, “the Anjuna-Caisua village panchayat has passed a resolution not to allow holding of Sunburn EDM on the fourth day (December 31) and that now the ball is in government’s court.”
He said despite assurances by the local MLA and the Chief Minister the organizers are hell-bent on holding the event and this is evident from the online sale of tickets for the fourth day.”
To prove his point, he showed the online tickets available via his smartphone.
Most of the locals demanded to know how the organizers announce tickets without obtaining the necessary permissions from the authorities.
A member of the comunidade said that he will raise the issue during the extraordinary general body meeting of the Comunidade of Anjuna on December 10.
The locals charged that the failure of the organisers to make sale of tickets unavailable on December 31 speaks volumes about the connivance between the government authorities and the organizers.
One of the villagers said that a wrong notion is being created by the organizers that they are drawing a huge crowd which is benefitting the locals.
On the contrary, a local said that the tourists who arrive in the State for New Year celebrations are the real patrons of the festival.
“Why can’t the organizers hold the event in Pune or in the month of February or even in November,” they asked to prove their argument that it is the tourists that attend this festival.
