Government slaps Sunburn Pune with Rs 1 crore fine

The organisers of the Sunburn Festival in Pune have been slapped with a fine of '1.02 crore for illegally levelling a hillock and defaulting on stamp duty payment

Organisers have been fined '60 lakh for levelling a portion of the Kesnanad hills to illegally erect a 500-ft stage

Pune: The organisers of the Sunburn Festival in Pune have been slapped with a fine of '1.02 crore for illegally levelling a hillock and defaulting on stamp duty payment. The festival, which began on December 28 and concluded yesterday, was being held on a 30-acre plot of land in Kesnanad hills, 35 km from Pune.

According to a new survey conducted by government officials, organisers had levelled a portion of the hills to erect a 500-ft stage. “The land falls under the non-development plot and no permission was sought to level the land for the festival,” said a revenue department official. On Thursday, the stamp and registration office had asked the organisers to cough up a penalty of '42 lakh.

However, denying that they had been fined, Harindra Singh, managing director of Percept Limited that organises Sunburn, said, “We have spent around '3.5 crore. We are developing the infrastructure and no penalties have been levied on us as all dues have been paid.”

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