Panaji, Nov 26 (IANS): Two days after Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant denied permission to host the popular Sunburn electronic dance music festival, organisers of the event, Percept Live, on Friday in a statement said that a scaled down version of the festival would now be held at Vagator, a beach village in North Goa.

"Percept Live would like to clarify that an initial application was made to host Sunburn Festival at Vagator at a similar mega scale as it used to take place earlier. Under advice from the government, it was decided to not pursue this mega festival any further due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Hence the Sunburn mega festival is not taking place in Goa this year," the statement issued by Percept Live said.

"However bearing in mind the improving situation and with nightlife & events slowly making a come-back, Percept has tied up with Hilltop, Vagator to produce a smaller limited capacity Sunburn event from December 27-29 at Hilltop, Vagator. This event is being organised with the support of the requisite authorities. The planning for the same is currently underway and Percept looks forward to welcoming fans in Goa very soon," the statement also said.

On Wednesday, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had said that his office had denied permission for hosting of the festival.

"We have not given permission for Sunburn this year. We will not be having Sunburn. This time we have not given permission to Sunburn. My office has already processed the file," Sawant had told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar had maintained that while he was in favour of hosting the event, he added that the Chief Minister may have denied permission due to the possible re-emergence of the Covid pandemic.