Sunburn 2012 to be smoke-free event: Goa govt

Goa government has decided to make 'Sunburn 2012' a completely smoke-free event and keep a tab on the sale or consumption of drugs during the fest to be held this month.

'Sunburn', one of the most popular Electro Dance Music (EDM) festival, is likely to be held in Goa for three days from December 27.

"Smoking will be completely banned in the 'Sunburn' festival. We will keep special vigilance for it," Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told a select gathering here yesterday.

He was responding to a question on frequent use of contrabands during the event, which is an annual feature in the state.

The chief minister conceded that curbing drugs required "heavy intelligence."

"To detect drugs we need heavy intelligence to trace it, we are on it," he claimed.

The 'Sunburn festival' had raked up controversy in the state with the Congress party questioning the state government to hold it in the beach belt, when it is chock-a-block during the Christmas and New Year time.

Congress spokesperson Sudip Tamankar had earlier said the Parrikar government was allowing disaster to happen by permitting the festival, when the beach belt has no capacity to handle such a huge number of visitors.

However, responding to the allegation, state tourism minister Dilip Parulekar had said that they were yet to give permission for the event.