Sunburn Goa 2020 to be cancelled: State government revokes permission

The Goa government has withdrawn the permission granted to host the annual Sunburn Festival in December due to the coronavirus pandemic, despite the buzz on social media generated by excited fans. After facing severe criticism, including opposition demonstrations, the state government revoked permission to allow the festival to take place amid the pandemic. This comes one day after the Goa government announced the cancellation of the electronic dance music festival because of the extreme potential health risks raised by the coronavirus case.

With a total population of 15,40,000, Goa has reported 44,747 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of today. There are 2,058 active cases, 42,056 recovered cases, while 633 have lost their lives because of the deadly virus. The state Case Fatality Ratio is 1.4 per cent. That is, 1 person has passed away from the virus for every 100 confirmed cases.

Percept Live, the company that organises the annual Sunburn festival, said they are prepared to cancel the festival if the state's pandemic situation worsens, In response to the decision. On Saturday, the organizers updated the fans with a formal update on their Twitter handle about the rescheduling of Sunburn 2020, along with a pledge of complete reimbursement to those who have already bought their tickets.

The Sunburn Festival is India's premier Festival of Electronic Music. Nikhil Chinapa organised the first International Dance Music Festival in Goa in 2007. At the annual festival, artists such as Martin Garrix, Dimitri Vegas, Including Mike, Afrojack, Tiesto, DJ Snake and many more featured.

"The decision has been taken in view of the pandemic situation in Goa. We don't want huge crowds to gather as it can lead to the spread of the virus." said the State Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar. After the nationwide lockdown was declared at the end of March 2020, the state has suffered a loss of Rs 1,000 crore in revenue from tourism.