Sunburn organisers approach Dhargalim panchayat for NOC

Panaji: The promoters of the Sunburn festival, Spacebound Web Labs Pvt Ltd, approached the Dhargalim panchayat on Tuesday, asking for approval to host the mega electronic dance music festival on a private property owned by Delta Corp.

Spacebound Web Labs reportedly obtained permission from Delta Corp to host the event on their property near the Ayush hospital at Dhargalim. “They submitted an application today for NOC. No decision has been taken by the panchayat, but we will submit our stand along with all the supporting documents before the high court,” said a member of the panchayat.

Sunburn’s application also came up for discussion during the Empowered Committee meeting of the Tourism Board. The tourism department asked Spacebound Web Labs to provide copies of all permissions before seeking permissions. “The file is in process, but we don’t know if they got local permissions,” said tourism director Suneel Anchipaka.

Pernem MLA Pravin Arlekar opposed the idea of hosting Sunburn in Dhargalim, saying that it is against local sentiments and that he was not kept in the loop when the decision was taken.

“Why do we need Sunburn? There are so many other places in Goa where it can be held. A gram sabha meeting was held last week, and everyone staunchly opposed Sunburn. There is a 400m distance from the Ayush hospital and the Sunburn site. Imagine what will be the state of the patients for those three days,” said former Dhargalim sarpanch Pradeep Naik.