Goa will always remain Sunburn venue: Harindra
Vice Chairman & Managing Director of Percept Ltd, Harindra Singh, who has been organising Sunburn EDM in Goa for the past seven years feels that govt permissions come only at the last minute. He denies any wrongdoing and claims that the organisers have been complying with all the government guidelines. Harindra speaks to Herald on his experience of holding shows in Goa
Herald: You claim to have sent the applications in January but the permissions were delayed till the very end. Don’t you feel the government ought to speed up the process?
Harindra Singh: Well, it is a problem every year but the government always gives us the permissions at the last minute. I visited Goa ten times this year for the licenses which lead to my family thinking I had a girlfriend there. It has been our experience for the past seven years but I have to say the say Goa is unique which makes us come back every year.
Herald:There were allegations that CRZ laws were violated, your response?
HS: The State govt had set up a SLPC for the permissions. Like I said we had applied for the permissions in January and had responded to all the queries.
Herald:There is a numerous of complaints every year when you try to have this festival in the State. Do you feel like shifting the festival out of Goa and to some other more welcoming place?
HS: No, never. Goa was the place from where we started Sunburn. Today we have Sunburn shows all over the country and we earned approximately Rs 125 crore from the shows. Although we organise 100 Sunburn shows all over the country, Goa is unique. It has a very interesting vibe which is not present anywhere else in the country. Goa will always be present right there for us as a destination for Sunburn.
Herald:Given that this season has been very bad in terms of the number of tourists coming to the State, how many fans do you expect will come for the festival?
HS: I believe like last year we will have in excess of one lakh visitors coming over the four days. Many of them come from Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune, Delhi and further. We also have fans coming from the UAE. Every year when the season was good we would have a large number of foreigners in the crowd. Atleast 30% infact, but this year we have to wait and watch.
Herald:What is the benefit to the local economy?
HS: With such a large number of people coming in there will be an infusion of a large amount of money. Last year it was estimated that approximately Rs 500 crore was pumped into the local economy by the visitors. Many hotels and taxi operators hike up their tariffs and the visitors paid for it.
Herald: Have you set up a common centre for CCTV along with the police… any progress?
HS: Yes of course. As we have done in all the previous Sunburn events. We have always complied with all government guidelines. And will continue to do so.
