Goa is considered to be a Mecca for Music lovers. It has witnessed many big budget music events in the past, which includes the Sunburn, Supersonic and recently concluded Time Out 72. The GOAT is yet another music festival that was supposed to take place in the Goa’s famous northern beach belt comprising of Ashvem and Morjim from 26th to 28th January had been denied the permissions from Local government putting the ticket holders into trouble…
According to the reports, those who have purchased the tickets for this musical festival ranging from Rs. 3000 to 5000 per person, from the online portal Insider.Com, have not received their refunds despite the festival did not happen in the state due to the lack of permission from concern government authorities. The sources have further said that the festival organizers have never obtained permissions from any authorities to hold the fest at Ashvem in North Goa. The News of cancellation of the even have sent the surge of disappointment to all the music lovers who had traveled all the way to Goa from the various parts of the country, putting them at the receiving end, said the sources.
Police Inspector of Pernem Police Station, Sandesh Chodankar, said that the organizers of GOAT had never sought for permission from the appropriate authorities. The police officer further clarified that the owner of the venue had asked for the required permissions for the music festival but it was rejected by the Deputy Collector of Pernem. According to the reports published by the local daily Herald Cafe has narrated as to how the ticket holders of the event had got cheated by the organizers.
According to the one of the music lover from Karnataka, Anjali Verma (name changed on request), a marketing by profession was excited to have her three friends from Delhi come to meet her over the Republic-Day-long-weekend. But little did she know that more drama was in store as her friends convinced her to drive to Goa to partake in GOAT, a music festival that was scheduled to happen at Por Do Sol in Ashvem from January 26 to 28, 2018.
Narrating her unpleasant experience, Anjali says, “It was completely stupid. Despite reaching the venue in the morning, on January 26, the organizers had no clue of what was happening even at 3 pm. The organizers were running away and were unwilling to face the clueless public. They then announced that they were changing the venue, but we later learned that they were actually just out of approvals. They then asked everyone to go to Pinakin for the after party; that got busted too. We gave in to the hype and drove 12 hours to reach Goa only to find no information. We spent the entire day at the venue and waited until the next day. We then decided to leave because there was no development whatsoever.”
In fact, Anjali was not alone who had been disappointed due to the cancellation of an event. According to Cafe reports, many music lovers who had traveled from far to make the most of the long weekend were left red-faced as the three-day music festival failed to take off. The ticket holders failed to receive their refunds even on the second day despite expressing their anguish over the cancellation of an event. They had even posted on the GOAT’s official FB page asking for either clarity on the situation or refund – and got neither of the two, further aggravating the situation. A user by the name of Love Bucket had posted on Facebook: “Please acknowledge refund requests for full weekend ticket holders. Taking our money in return for a 1-day event featuring a fraction of the acts advertised is fraudulent and thievery. Have some respect for the people that have paid for absolutely nothing but bad vibes.”
In the recent past, a number of music festivals in Goa have been denied permissions by the state authorities. While this has left music lovers and organizers complaining, it is important to note that, according to police sources, most of these festivals have failed to secure adequate clearances. This development also comes in the wake of a number of politicians, including the Chief Minister, expressing a strong will to curb abuse of narcotics and other illegalities associated with illegal music and dance parties in Goa.
THE POSTS ON THE WALL OF GOAT FB PAGE
SOURCE: HERALD CAFE
