‘No to two EDM events during Christmas week’

Panaji, July 20 (IANS) The Goa Police is set to object two electronic dance music (EDM) festivals from being held in the state during the Christmas-New Year week, a senior officer said on Wednesday.

Goa hosts several EDM festivals in the last week of December, the most popular ones being Sunburn and Supersonic.

"Even last year we had requested that no two EDM festivals should be held at the same time, especially in the same district. We will oppose it this time too, if there are requests," said Inspector General of Police Sunil Garg.

The police official also said that hosting two events simultaneously puts a lot of pressure on the state's security apparatus, especially at a time when tourists arrivals are at peak.

Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar has already said that as a matter of government policy, no EDM events will be allowed in the last week of December, when tourist footfalls are at its peak and the events only add to the stress on the already creaking infrastructure.

However, the organisers of Sunburn, in a statement issued here on Tuesday, have insisted that they will not budge the event's dates (December 27-30) this year, because the last nine editions of the EDM festival have been held on the same date. The organisers have also threatened to move the event to a new venue, if the Goa government does not budge from its stance of not allowing events during the festive week.

While Goa's resident population is 1.5 million, the state attracts more than four million tourists annually, a large chunk of which arrive in Goa during the festive year-end period.