It is just another ten days to India’s Sunburn Festival, and the organisers have still not received the necessary permits to host the event.
Sunburn is an EDM festival held in India annually and claims to be Asia’s largest music festival. The festival was being organised in Goa annually for the last nine years, but the Goa government’s ban forced the organisers to shift the venue to Pune this time. The popular electronic dance music festival’s tenth chapter, to be held between December 28 and 31, has run afoul of local residents who are demanding that it be cancelled, citing issues with loud music, high-beam lights, traffic, tree-cutting and possible issues of law and order due to consumption of alcohol and narcotics, reports ‘The Times Of India’.
Harindra Singh, chairman and MD of Sunburn Global said, “Organisations protesting against the event should approach us with their doubts. This is not the first time we are organising Sunburn. We will get all the required permissions and no rules will be violated. The sound system will be directed away from residents’ homes and the direction of wind will also be considered. The 10 pm deadline will be strictly followed and all waste will be disposed of as per Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) rules. There is a separate smoking zone and only adults will be allowed to consume alcohol. The high-beam lights, too, will be used only in restricted areas.”
Singh further claimed that the tragic deaths in Goa in 2009 had no connection with the festival. “We cannot control what happens before or after the event. There will be over 300 guards, policemen and 200 CCTV cameras on the job. Bags and even water bottles aren’t allowed, so there is no question of drugs being smuggled in,” he added, pointing out that such events generate major tourism and employment.
The petitions will be heard on December 19 by the local court, and only then will the fate of the hugely popular festival be known. For the love of dance fans in India, and one of the upcoming dance markets, let us hope there is an amicable resolution to the concerns raised before the festival dates.
