Old Goa, Sep 10 (Herald): The Sunburn festival 2013 in Goa is yet to get approval from the state government, but that has not stopped organisers from announcing the sale of “early bird tickets” from September 11 for the event that takes place in December.

While Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar said the application for the event is still pending with the government, he was confident that the festival would not be staged at Candolim.

But Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) Vice-Chairman Vishnu Wagh has described Sunburn as “a bad concept that is spoiling the youth” and has instead, suggested an international western music concert in the state.

Dilip Parulekar confirmed that the government was yet to give its approval to the festival.

“We have received an application for the festival, but it is up to the single window committee to take a decision on it. This time though, I will not allow the event to be organised at Candolim at any cost and the organisers have shortlisted 2-3 places in north and south Goa,” Parulekar told Herald.

When asked how the organisers had advertised the  sale of tickets from September 11 before getting approval from the government, Parulekar said: “They may have advertised online, but I cannot stop them from doing that.”

On the other hand, fellow BJP legislator Wagh has felt that events such as Sunburn need to be brought under the purview of the ESG, so that they can be monitored by regulatory agencies, besides adding to the revenue of the state. 

“Sunburn is a bad concept and is spoiling the youth, but I don’t  want it to be banned. Instead, the state government should have a regulatory body like the ESG to monitor such events and help the state treasury in benefiting from such events. “I have told my government so many times that if it declares entertainment as an industry, we can get huge revenue annually from the entertainment sector.”

“Bookings for the Sunburn festival have already started on the Internet, though the organizers are yet to get permission. There is no check on the rates of the tickets and no one knows how much money the organisers will collect by organising the festival,” Wagh added.

Asked if he had any alternate plans for a mega music festival in the state, Wagh replied: “Sunburn is nothing but DJ and trance music. In fact, just three days ago, I had consulted my friends in the international music circle and had proposed that we should have an international western music concert, where we can invite 150 groups from all over the world to Goa. We could have music for three days and three nights and this would be better than the DJ and trance music at Sunburn.”

Incidentally, Goa Police had earlier written to the state government advising against issuing permission to ‘Sunburn”, as it is a “high risk hazard to participants” and its location along the Candolim sea front had made it “highly vulnerable” to terrorist attacks.

When contacted, a senior police official confirmed that Goa Police was yet to receive the application pertaining to the Sunburn festival in the state.