Govt bending rules for Sunburn is beyond shameful

It’s going from bad to worse with the Department of Tourism of Goa now trying to help the organisers of Sunburn to try and break the Code of Comunidades instead of standing by it.

“You cannot really shame a man who sincerely does not care what others think of him,” Mokokoma Mokhonoana once said. And, it reflects the sad state of governance in Goa.

Today, all politicians want money – or to put it bluntly – a bribe. Normally, rules are bent, but in Goa rules are being created to break the rules laid out by our ancestors thousands of years ago. Disgusting!

The Department of Tourism, according to government files perused, is trying to take over land from the Anjuna Comunidade “bearing Survey no 206/1 for setting up permanent event venue”.

The land that the department wants to lay its hands on is the same land where Sunburn and other events are held regularly, and the organisers do so by paying bribes to get the land instead of paying the owners of the land.

It is evident that the people organising such events are distanced from reality and nowhere close to accepting the truth, even after the High Court of Bombay at Goa laid down the latter for them.

Instead, they tried to approach the Supreme Court where once again – after achieving nothing – they tried through fake media to create the impression that they could get away by painting the wrong right.

Interestingly, the note by the Department of Tourism concludes: “Further we may also request Revenue Department to convert the existing zones of the land to a suitable zone prior to transfer of the land parcels to this Department.”

Part of the land that the department wants transferred is demarcated as Disaster Management Zone – not by the owners of the land but by the Government of Goa – and all the government offices that granted permission in the past did so by ignoring what the area was marked as.

Having thousands of people partying in an area marked as Disaster Management Zone can only happen in a place where human life is not cared for nor has any value, and sadly this place is Goa, run by a dispensation where money comes before man.

The High Court of Bombay at Goa has itself stated that the area, wanted to be acquired, falls in a residential area and in such places, no more than 50 decibels of sound can be played.

So, the government wants all to believe that EDMs can be held with volume that does not exceed 50 decibels or perhaps expect the courts to believe that volume was never louder than the limit prescribed.

Any right-thinking Goan knows that hosting Sunburn in December is bad, and especially the days selected – December 28 till 31. Sunburn in December ruins the mental, financial and social equilibrium. It is bad for Goa, but excellent for the hosts.

Proof that the organisers of Sunburn care a damn about Goa can be glanced from the affidavit submitted by Chief Secretary Puneet Kumar Goel in PIL 2824/2022 wherein he states: “This being a clear violation of the rules by the organizers, the officials involved in the permission granting process viz SDM, SDPO and Pollution Control Board have processed the application and have granted permission for the event within a day. It has also been stated by SDM that such instances have also occurred in the past where the oragnisers of the same event have applied just one day before the event and permissions have been granted.”

This short take, makes it clear that Sunburn doesn't care about the rules because they are the ones who are determining the rules for their festival. Or else, how come they wait for the last minute to file for applications when their tickets are sold months in advance?

Everyone needs to make money but there is a way how one makes it, and, here, the reflection of the giver and taker is gross. “Shame is a soul eating emotion,” Carl Jung wrote.

Unfortunately, Sunburn is a festival without a soul.