Azgaonkar said though the government has received a written communication from Percept Live, organisers of Sunburn, seeking clarity on some of the issues, the state government has not taken a decision whether to allow EDM festival to be held in the state.
But Azgaonkar was quick to add that “music is in Goa’s ethos and such music festivals should happen here”.
Besides organisers of Sunburn, the organiser of Supersonic, Viacom18, have to pay arrears to various state departments including police, government sources said. The organisers had raised dispute over the bills raised by the police department for providing security for the EDMs.
In the past, the organisers had also complained of high taxes and the time taken by the government in deciding their application.
Issues, however, remained unsettled even after a committee was constituted to look into the matter.
In October 2016, a writ petition was filed before the high court of Bombay at Goa seeking direction to the government to recover dues from Percept Live.
In November 2016, the high court directed the government not to consider Percept Live’s application to hold Sunburn in December 2016 until their arrears were fully paid.
Viacom18, which conducted its first EDM in Goa in 2013, shifted the festival to Pune in 2016. Subsequently, Percept Live, whose application remained undecided till the last week of October 2016, also pulled out of Goa and moved to Pune.
A senior tourism official said Goa has huge potential to become a music hub, which will boost tourism, and added that there is need for a system to expeditiously process such applications so that festival organisers are better placed to plan their event.