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Court bans liquor ad at Carnival

Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panaji.

The Goa Carnival will be 'dry', or at least the promotion part of it.

In a major blow to the state government and the liquor lobby, the Goa bench of the Bombay high court has imposed major restrictions on promoting liquor during the Carnival, beginning tomorrow. An important feature of the weeklong fete is the float parade through the streets of Panaji. The floats are also an advertiser's delight given their high visibility.

Liquor companies that had plans to display its products in the parade, rather than the cultural aspects of Goa, have now withdrawn their advertisements.

The genesis of the ban on liquor promotion goes back to Goa Excise Duty Act, 1964, which for years existed only on paper. Then act bans all kinds of liquor promotion through advertisements or sponsorships. A reluctant state government was forced to implement the law after a high court ruling. Environmental activist Dr Claude Alvares, head of the Goa Foundation, had filed a petition in the court against seeking enforcement of the excise act.

For years, the state authorities had succeeded in portraying Christmas and the Carnival (held in February) as festivals where liquor flows like water. The aim was to attract tourists from all over the world. The tourist season in Goa lasts from October to February.

What was originally a cultural festival, the Carnival had thus become a commercialised event, hijacked by liquor and tobacco companies promoting their brands. The liquor and tobacco companies also pumped in money, making the fete much bigger over the years.

Trouble first began in 1986 when the Church banned the Carnival for five years, and the public boycotted it. The Carnival was resumed in 1991, but with a strict code of conduct that prohibited nudism and commercialisation.

Violation of the code once again seeped in last year with a couple of liquor companies using the Carnival to promote its brands by displaying huge cut-outs of bottles, etc, in collusion with the state tourism department.

That was when Alvares got the provisions of Goa Excise Duty Act enforced through court intervention in December last. All liquor hoardings and boards were razed and newspaper advertisements banned.

The state authorities, however, retaliated on Christmas eve, issuing a notification based on the exception clause. This clause exempts the ban on liquor promotion for seven days during major festivals. The state planned to use it for the Carnival also, till the Foundation sought a stay on the notification. The high court has now granted the Foundation interim relief.

The court has directed the authorities to strictly comply with the code of conduct during the Carnival parade which states that sponsored floats should not display cut-outs of its products, liquor or otherwise. However, banners strung along the floats are allowed.

"We will strictly follow the court directives," assured U D Kamat, the state tourism director. He declined further comment.

Dr Alvares said the move by the Congress government to exempt liquor promotions at the Carnival only exposes the state Congress government. He charged that the Goa government was working for the benefit of the liquor lobby in the name of promoting tourism and festivals.

EARLIER REPORTS:
State finds way round liquor promotion ban
Liquor advertisements banned