MUMBAI: The 100 Pipers Jazz Utsav that was to take place at the Priyadarshini Park in downtown Mumbai on 21 and 22 November 2009 suffered a setback when the civic authorities clamped down, saying the venue could not hold a commercial non sports event.
Hectic parleying by the organisers and chaos among the audiences notwithstanding, the two day festival could not take off at Priyadarshini Park and a makeshift gig was held at the mid town Bluefrong later in the evening.
While the event at PDP could not take off as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said the organisers did not have the requisite permissions, Ashok Gulati, organiser of the Jazz Utsav, told Radioandmusic.com that they had taken permissions from the Malabar Hill Residents Association that looks after Priyadarshini Park.
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The Jazz Utsav organisers maintain that the authorities did not reveal the fact that a commercial or non-sports event cannot be held at the park. BMC authorities told Radioandmusic.com that such an event can be held, only if the BMC is informed about the event A BMC official present at the venue said that proper permission was not obtained from the BMC and hence, the event had to be cancelled. Incidentally, this is the 20th year of the much loved Jazz Utsav.
By Saturday morning, the stage was already built and artistes had had their individual soundchecks done. Around Rs 1,00,000 was paid to book the venue, say the organisers.
A total of Rs 10 million has been invested in the event that has been hosted in three cities – Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.
After the authorities clamped down on Priyadarshini Park around 2 pm on Saturday and put up a notice at the gates informing the organisers of the decision, the event was proposed to be moved to Bluefrog in mid town Mumbai.
For the second day of the event, Gulati said the organisers would try to obtain a court stay on the cancellation of the event. Meanwhile, those who had come to watch the event were very upset, as they were left stranded for almost three hours without any communication from the organisers.
The audiences who thronged Priyadarshini Park, some from Pune and other cities, averred that there should be refunds of the tickets that had cost them between Rs 500 to Rs 750 Last year too, the festival had to be called off as it was scheduled soon after the Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks Many jazz lovers present at the venue told Radioandmusic.com said that it’s a shame that artistes who showed courage and turned up to perform even in the face of terrorist threats to the city this year had to suffer.
Stay tuned to this space for updates.
