Dress code to curb obscenity at Goa carnival this year

The Goa government will impose a dress code to keep a check on obscenity at the annual Carnival to be held in Goa next month, tourism minister Dilip Parulekar said on Friday.

"We will ask all carnival committees to ensure that there is no obscenity at the Carnival parades this time," Parulekar told reporters on the sidelines of a function organised here.

Asked if a dress code would be enforced to ensure there is no obscenity during the Carnival float parade, the tourism minister answered in the affirmative.

The carnival is symbolic of Goa's colonial Portuguese legacy and is held every year before the holy season of Lent. Goa was a Portuguese colony for over 450 years before it was liberated by the Indian army in 1961.

The festival, held in February every year, involves a public celebration in the form of long continuous parades of gaily coloured floats, with dancers in masquerade and indulgence in food, drink and general merriment, and is led by the portly figure of King Momo, who symbolically opens the festivities.

Parulekar also said that special carnival performers from Liverpool in the United Kingdom had been roped in to lend an international flair to the event.

"A troupe from Liverpool will be performing at the Goa Carnival this year," Parulekar said.

The Carnival will kick off in Goa on February 6. Carnival parades, organised by civic communities, will be held across Goa's more prominent towns like Panaji, Vasco, Margao, etc.