unburn's history in Goa has been marred by legal disputes and environmental grievances. Issues ranging from court-registered sound pollution complaints to unpaid dues owed to local custodians have underscored the festival's
contentious relationship with Goa's regulatory framework and community stakeholders.
The decision to relocate Sunburn from North Goa to South Goa has sparked a wave of discontent. There is also confusion whether the organisers have sought permission for holding the event in the new venue, with the Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant contradicting each other. While the former said no application had been received, the latter said that application had been received and was under scrutiny. This has further fuelled the fire of public displeasure towards the event.
This has heightened tensions, with local communities and Opposition leaders demanding transparency and adherence to regulatory protocols before endorsing the event's relocation.
Residents of Vagator, which has been the regular venue, have expressed apprehension over potential disruptions and negative social consequences that the festival might bring to the region. Many believe that the area where Sunburn is held becomes inhabitable during the festival, due to the chaos and pollution it causes.
Many have also cited concerns over potential environmental degradation and a surge in crime and drug-related incidents. In fact, Calangute MLA Michael Lobo agreed there is drug sale outside Sunburn venue and there have been cases of drug overdose and deaths inside. However, Lobo also declared that he always welcomed the Sunburn EDM festival, since it brought in a lot of tourists and created business for Goan stakeholders.
In fact, due to the constant protests from the locals in Goa, Sunburn Festival was shifted to Pune in 2016. But there was also trouble with locals from Kesnand village, which was the venue for the event. In 2019, the festival returned to Vagator, Goa. But the public sentiments remain negative towards this event.
In this backdrop, the question arises that has this event served any purpose for the development of the State and is Sunburn taking Goans for granted in the name of tourism? Is it time for the government to relook at the feasibility of such big events?
Tulio D'Souza, Vice President, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC), speaking on the issue and the genesis of this sudden anger amongst people especially in South Goa, said, “The event was held in Goa for quite some time, then they moved out. The fact that they moved away from Goa and came back, means they were not welcome at the new venue as well, that’s how I infer it.”
“A number of Sunburn editions happened in North Goa, from 2007 to 2015. From Candolim, they migrated to Anjuna. Now, in most of these editions of Sunburn, there have been some traumatic cases of even deaths due to perceived drug overdose or whatever was diagnosed and these matters were never brought to light by the Police department,” D'Souza said.
According to him, the Police department claims that they are on the trail of illegal drug trafficking, but these types of events probably are not brought to the fore.
The Goa Police doesn't seem to be doing enough to check or do away
with drugs that are associated with
this event.
“Now the organisers per se by themselves have left a lot of issues unaddressed, like the problem of drugs. I'll tell you, at one instance, there was an individual who had to get the direction from the Honourable High Court to pay the dues that they owed to the government in terms of licensing and the procedure that they had entered into. So they Come, they hold an event, get all their permissions and but don’t pay the government dues,” he said.
The GPCC Vice President said that there is on record a case wherein the High Court had directed the government to recover the dues before issuing fresh permissions.
“As far as the recent case in Anjuna is concerned, they had not paid them. They paid them very less and they had to knock on the doors of the court to get some money. This is a total lack of transparency and that is why this festival should go,” he said.
He said that because of these reasons, the people of South Goa
are so angry.
“Basically, I'm trying to be the voice of the common people, whom I have heard from the ground. The major issue is, it is not a question of two or three days. There will be a lot of repercussions. For example, they have mentioned in the website, they will allow inside children of only 18 plus years. But does anyone know what is the mechanism to monitor, what are the checks and balances they're going to use to see that there are no children below 18 years?” he asked.
He said that even the minister himself said it cannot be controlled because the number of people attending the event is around 70,000 and it is
not possible to check every person
who enters.
Giving his comments, Anthony D’Silva, a social activist, said, “We are not concerned about the event. We are concerned about what is going to be fallout after the event. For example, what will happen once a child or a person gets one dose of these drugs or gets raped or murdered? This will continue for another 30-40 years, by that time Goa will be totally finished. We will not see the destruction of Goa today, but it will happen in the distant future,” he said.
“In simple terms, I will say the bombardment of Nagasaki or Hiroshima might have taken only five minutes. But people are facing its repercussions till today. This is worse than an atom bomb,” D’Silva added.
If we look at Sunburn's point of view, they might turn around and say they are doing a festival, getting the best artistes and the best DJs because of which so many tourists are going to come in those three days. There's going to be good clean music. All this talk about drugs and other things is external noise and they are not concerned about it. They will do the festival and go back and all these things about drugs and other things are just stories, which perhaps happen outside the premises of sunburn. What does one say to this?
“See, whatever may be the projections, we are going to analyse the situation based on scientifically collected data of the past right. What is the history of this EDM? From the data I know that the past is already very bad. There are so many issues that are still pending. But the government pretends as if there's nothing going to happen. It is just simply that we don't want our villages in South Goa to get destroyed by this event. We want our villages to remain as they are,” D’Silva said.
Now the issue is, there are many people in South Goa who are recoiling at the name of Sunburn, but may not even know what Sunburn is. Should there be any such big event anywhere in Goa where there’s a huge crowd movement and why is this recoil against one event of this nature? One understands that there is lot of emotion and anger. But what is the primary reason for people being so angry?
Responding to the question, Advocate Radharao Gracias said, “When things happen in this manner, there’s bound to be resistance. When a government decides to do anything, say set up a factory or permit a company manufacturing unit or bring a festival, two things are needed. First thing is the government has to check whether it is needed here, and two, assess the implications on the local people, whether it is of any benefit to the local population.”
According to Adv Gracias, a study should be done in this regard and then the findings of it should be made public, so that people know the good and ill effects of the event or project.
“Now this particular event has been going on for the last 15 years and we do not have any study done before the event started or now regarding its feasibility. Therefore we as citizens, have a right to question them as to why it has been brought and what is in it for the people of Goa. So far we do not know anything about this aspect,” he said.
Adv Gracias added that internationally, in America or Europe, there are laws governing festivals. In India, there are no laws governing EDM at all and it is very different from conventional music.
“Forget about issues like drugs. There are reports that the type of music played in EDM has psychological effects on young minds. They are even induced to consume drugs, as per news reports. With that being the case, the duty of the government is first to bring in a law, which will identify and verify what are the pitfalls of this festival. You have done nothing like that and simply allowed a festival without there being a law, which would take care in case there is violation of something,” Adv gracias said.
“Where are the laws? They come in every time and they bring in this music. If you follow national or international news, every time there is a drug case somewhere and more often than not, Goa is linked to it. You see Hyderabad. So many fellows from Anjuna itself were arrested. Now more recently, a celebrity died by suicide or was killed in Mumbai. There also the lead shows that the drugs came from Goa. In big cities like Mumbai and Hyderabad, Goa is a conduit of drugs to those places,” he said.
He added that normally it should come from there to here. But it's working the other way round. So it obviously means that Goa has become a centre of drug trade.
“I am not in the position to say whether drugs are taken inside the Sunburn venue or not. But the general belief is that this is a festival which is meant to distribute drugs and to consume drugs. Now rightly or wrongly, it is for the government to debunk this notion. Now, if people believe this is the position, then the government has to come out with a study and say this is not the case. Otherwise, people will continue to believe that there is a drug angle here,” he added.
The Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), the primary body for implementing policies with regard to tourism, has issued a statement signed by its President Jack Sukhija, in which it was stated that “Sunburn has significantly boosted tourism in Goa and boosted local economy. All over the world, events supplement the tourism economy. As a world-class musical event, we expect Sunburn to do the same in South Goa.”
“This year, Sunburn will undoubtedly place South Goa on the world music map, stimulating business in sectors such as hotels, food and beverages, transport etc. We expect the festival to be a great event while adhering to all statutory protocols and waste management guidelines it is important that local stakeholders in South Goa are on board,” the TTAG stated.
Reacting to this statement, Adv Gracias said, “I am rather surprised that Jack Sukhija, who is the grandson of Dr Jack Sequeira and also named after the man under whose leadership of Goa was saved in the Opinion Poll, should be supporting a festival which most Goans oppose. But it does appear that Dr Jack Sequeira in heaven, has also found another way out for us.”
“You see, we know that Dr Jack Sequeira was brought by Dr Wilfred D’Souza into politics and I think from somewhere above, he has guided Wilfred D’Souza’s son-in-law (Tulio D’Souza) here. So, I'm glad that we somehow have Dr Jack Sequeira with us and not with them,” he said in a lighter note.
Reacting to the TTAG’s statement, Michael Mendonsa, Gauncar, Anjuna Comunidade said, “I think they've lost the plot. Tourists were not brought in by Sunburn. Rather they have prayed for having a lot of tourists in Goa for the festivities. This issue was raised by me during one of the general body meetings of the Comunidade, where I explained to the stakeholders, rather the Gaonkars, that the two times of the year when a lot of our people come down to Goa, is during Ganesh Chaturthi time and Christmas-New Year time.”
“Christmas-New Year week is the time for cultural events. It's also a festive week. It is a time when we have a lot of lovely dances and showcase our culture. We have a lot of people coming down to Goa to enjoy this. I personally feel Percept or rather Sunburn has capitalised on this. So to say that they are bringing footfalls to Goa, is a big no,” he said.
“In fact, tourism has actually gone for a toss because of Sunburn. I'll explain to you why. The tourism season in Goa used to start in the Anjuna-Vagator belt.
Immediately after Ganesh Chaturthi, mostly at the end of September, depending upon the date for Chaturthi. It was predominantly the European tourists who used to come down. They didn't put Goa on the world map. It was George Harrison of the famous band Beatles who put Goa on the world map,” Mendonsa said.
“When I was in Scotland, I happened to meet a few musicians who had been over here. I met one of the base guitarists there.
“Coming back to the point of whether Sunburn has brought footfalls, it hasn’t. In fact, I remember, the first time when they came down to Vagator, their team went around the whole of Anjuna and Vagator booking rooms. Now bear in mind, at that point of time, we didn't have much accommodation. So, most of the rooms were booked at a very high premium rate,” he said.
“So what happened was, the European tourists who were coming down for Christmas and New Year, came for three to four months. We all are aware of that. Suddenly the people started asking them to visit the premises during this period of time,” he said.
“Now what the actual scenario in Goa was at that time, these tourists used to come down. Christmas and New Year parties used to get over. Then they used to go after January 7 to Gokarna. Then after the parties happening there were over, they used to come back to Goa maybe after January 15 or so,” he said.
"Now because of this gap in time period, these people started making alternative arrangements. So the rooms started getting vacant. So on the whole if they say today that yes one day before one day after five days you get a premium rate, which you don't right now, because the amount of accommodation has increased a lot in this belt,” he said.
According to Mendonsa, the government is also losing revenue because the non-Goans who have come down over here, have bought a lot of residential apartments and they are leasing it out on Airbnb to these people. So how are we gaining from it?
It's very important for everybody to get on board, including the government bodies that control pollution, mainly the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB), the waste management organisations and the local bodies like the panchayats.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) rules and regulations, orders of the High Court - all of this should be put into the cauldron of judgment before a final decision is taken. But in any case, people of South Goa have already announced their verdict. They have said a big no to Sunburn EDM festival.