Goa Congress has rubbished the contention of Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar that Electronic Dance Music (EDM) festivals bring in revenue to the coastal state.
"The utterances of tourism Minister of bringing back EDM festivals in the state, particularly the earlier organisers to increase revenue of the state, has betrayed his ignorance," Congress Goa spokesman Trajano D'Mello told reporters today.
D'Mello who had petitioned Goa Bench of Bombay High Court against various dues to be paid by EDM organisers to the state government today challenged the Tourism minister to place before the public, amount of revenue earned in the form of various taxes from the festival (EDM) organisers.
Goa has been an annual destination for many EDMs including Sunburn and Supersonic - which were not held last year after state government refused to grant them permission.
"The fact is that EDM organisers owe crores of rupees. Inspite of the outstanding dues permissions were being granted which forced me to file a writ petition in December 2015. The court has directed state government to recover the dues as expeditiously as possible," the spokesman said.
D'Mello said without recovering the dues, permission was granted for 2015.
"As no dues were paid, I filed another writ petition where court ordered that thepermission to hold the music festival in state of Goa for 2016 would not be considered until the EDM organisers cleared the amount demanded or to furnish a bank guarantee," he added.
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