Terming Goa as a "cash-starved state", opposition parties today demanded ban on the upcoming popular electronic dance music (EDM) festivals in Goa, saying the organisers have not paid the "tax dues" pending for the last two years.
Two EDM festivals -- 'Sunburn Goa' and 'Supersonic' -- are scheduled to be held in the coastal state from December 27 to 30.
The Congress and the NCP said the government should not allow the two EDMs till they clear tax dues pending for the last two years, specially when Goa is facing financial constraints.
State government, however, clearing its stand said it is determined to recover the tax money from organisers.
"The EDM festivals should not be allowed to take place this year by the state government as organisers of both the festival are yet to pay the tax money for last two events," NCP Goa spokesperson Trojano D'Mello told reporters here.
"How can the government allow the organisers to stay without paying taxes for last two events? This is money of tax payers. The government should have recovered the money because we are a cash-starved state," he said.
D'Mello claimed that both the event organisers together owe Rs 3 crore to the government.
The Congress, on the other hand, said it was BJP who opposed EDMs when it was in the opposition and had said such festivals were against "Indian culture" and "promote drugs", now it is BJP's turn to justify their previous stand.
"The BJP government should ban EDMs. While in the opposition, they had accused the Congress of promoting such festivals, which according to them were against the 'culture' and 'pushing drugs'," Goa Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee Chief Sunita Verenkar told a press conference today.
She said since BJP had objected in the past, now it is
time for them to ban the festivals and prove their objection.
Verenkar also raised the issue of safety of youths and music enthusiasts visiting the festivals.
"We should ensure safety of the youths who are visiting the (festival) venues," she said.
Meanwhile, Goa Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar said that the state government is determined to recover tax money from EDM organisers.
"The tax would be assessed by authorities and it would be collected. We are not lacking at any recovery. We are following proper procedure," he said.
Parulekar said it would be wrong to blame the government for non-recovery of the taxes.
Reacting to the ban demand, Shailendra Singh, Joint Managing Director, Percept which hosts Sunburn Goa, said they are following process of law.
"We are following process of law... We are law-abiding citizens and we are going by rules and regulations," he said.
When contacted Supersonic, the organisers said they would not like to comment on the issue.
