Bavdhan residents oppose Sunburn music festival in Pune
Villagers of Bavdhan Budruk have opposed the festival taking place in the Oxford golf resort, located on a hill on the village boundary.
The Sunburn music festival, in its 11th edition this year, has yet again run into trouble. This time villagers of Bavdhan Budruk have opposed the festival taking place in the Oxford golf resort, located on a hill on the village boundary.
The gram panchayat of Bavdhan Budruk recently filed their complaint against Sunburn, citing noise pollution, traffic congestion and illicit sale of drugs and alcohol. This was presented by village head Piyusha Dagade Patil. They have also filed complaints with the collector and charity commissioner.
Hindustan Times visited the spot where levelling was in full swing with five earth moving machines, and workers moving at fast pace to level the uneven mountain side. The location for the music festival is a private open land which belongs to local resident and the entry to this place is only through the Oxford Golf Resort road.
Rohan Seolekar, managing director, Oxford Group, said Sunburn has rented out the parking space. “We allotted them the parking space only after looking at the permissions and documents,” said Seolekar.
According to Karan Singh, CEO, Sunburn, “We will be hosting the biggest music festival over 100 acres of land which is set amidst nature with proper infrastructure. We looked at multiple venues including Pimpri-Chinchwad, which was dropped due to inadequate infrastructure. At no point were any permission denied.”
After shifting to Maharashtra from Goa last year owing to infrastructure issues and pending dues from the government of Goa, Sunburn was allowed to host its 11th edition at the sprawling Oxford Golf Resort, Lavale, though according to the press release, the organisers also considered Mahalaxmi lawns as a potential venue for the festival.
The venue was booked and permissions were applied for, but permission was denied citing objections from the airport authorities, CRPF and the airforce. This new venue is located on top of the hill, with an entry through the highway bypass.
According to the plan, parking infrastructure for over 10,000 cars and bikes is being created along with a massive space for the main stage spanning 350 ft x 150 ft and a total stage area are of over 21,000 sq. ft .
Senior citizens as well as villagers feel such programmes don’t fit in with the village culture. “Loud music and traffic will be a nightmare for us living in Bavdhan,” said Prakash Sohoni, a senior citizen, living at High Class Residency in the area. “We live in a quiet locality and there are many senior citizens here.”
Nilkanth Bajaj, president, senior citizens association in Bavdhan says, “Such a programme will disturb the daily functioning of people living here. We already have a major traffic problem which will increase twofold and we will not allow them to disrupt our peace.”
Kiran Dagade Patil, corporator, too, feels that such a festival should not be given any permission. If so then we will hold a rasta roko and even a protest with women and children. Goa stopped them and denied permission and we also got a report of what they did in Wagholi; alcohol flowed freely and young people were doing drugs. We don’t want such a festival in our village.”
“The organisers have not approached the Gram Panchyat for the permissions and we are not giving them at all,” said Piyusha Dagade Patil.
David Cadd and Pallavi Vaidya, residents of Bavdhan, also opposed the music festival. “Even if they are on top of a hill, the music will be resounding and will affect people living down the plains. This should not be allowed, for with so much crowd the entire environment will be affected,” said Cadd.