Beach parties are not permitted by law, says Goa minister

Paji, May 13: “Beach parties” in coastal Goa, which attract hundreds of thousands of tourists every year, are patronised by “anti-elements”, are illegal and cannot be permitted by law, state Art and Culture Minister Dayand Mandrekar said on Friday. “Beach parties are not permitted by law,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a function related to devotiol songs. “Beach parties are organised in our constituencies. People call them by different mes. Do you know how beach parties happen? People who run restaurants, play music. Then there are some anti-elements who start dancing to the music,” said Mandrekar, who represents the Siolim constituency which includes coastal villages of Anju and Chapora, popular hubs for rave parties and electronic dance music events, partronised by hundreds of thousands of music lovers every year.

The senior minister in the Bharatiya Jata Party-led coalition government claimed that one of the biggest proponents of western culture was the immensely popular Sunburn electronic dance music festival, which is held in the state every year. “The biggest event which promotes western culture is Sunburn which goes on for three days. Who will stop it? The event requires multi-department involvement like the tourism and home department which takes decisions.  (IANS)