Centre favours Goa as permanent venue

| 01 December 2004 23:12 IST

After successfully organising the 35th International Film Festival for the first time in Goa, the centre is now seriously considering to sign another Memorandum of Understanding, to make it a permanent venue.

“There are no rival claimants and there is no politics involved in deciding about the permanent venue”, central information and broadcasting minister Jaipal Reddy claimed yesterday.

However, he made a statement in this regard only after the local opposition Congress in Goa also made a demand to make it a permanent venue. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has been making the demand right from the beginning.

“Such matters are governed by what is good for the film industry”, said Reddy.

The film industry, from Mumbai’s Bollywood to the south Indian film world, has unanimously demanded that Goa be made the permanent venue. “Even the political parties are unanimous”, stated the central minister.

According to Reddy, Goa is a magnificent locale for the festival. “If we had a contrary thought, we would have not supported to hold it even this year”, he clarifies.

The journalists however reminded him that West Bengal chief minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya, after meeting him last month, had said that Goa is the not the permanent venue.

“Goa is still not the permanent venue. The MoU was signed only for one year”, he claims, but assures indirectly that Goa would continue to be the venue, provided organisational, administrative and managerial hurdles are cleared by the state government.

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