DFF justifies large number of passes

Panaji, Nov 26 (UNI) Amid mounting criticism over mismanagement and inconvenience to delegates, the Entertainment Society of Goa(ESG)today beefed up security and general arrangements at the INOX multiplex, the main venue of film screenings at the International Film Festival held at Goa here.

Ugly scenes had been created at INOX yesterday when a large number of delegates failed after hours of wait to get entry into the auditoria.

Reacting to the complaints that many senior people associated with film making had to wait hours to get entry for watching the films, senior Deputy Director of the Film Festival Shankar Mohan told UNI that it was very difficult to distinguish between the different kind of delegates.They are given entry on first come first serve basis.

''We have only issued 5000 passes, which was of course more than the seating capacity, but it is an international practice to issue greater number of passes than the capacity of the venues. It happens at Cannes and other venues of film festival also,'' he said.

Meanwhile authorities today put a public address system into place outside the multiplex and notice boards to inform and update the screening schedules and correct entry and exit doors.

''These measures have been put in place keeping in mind the safety of all,'' ESG CEO Nandinin Paliwal said.

She said that since IFFI follows international norms of safety, it does not allowing aisle seating and unauthorised entry into the screening halls due to security reasons.

''We want everyone here to enjoy the film festival and we will make all posible efforts to make IFFI a sucess,'' said Ms Paliwal.

General Manager of INOX Depak Srivastava also said that aisle seating has been disallowed by the DFF&ESG after much deliberation.

Safety of the delegates is our prime concern and we take it seriously, he said.

UNI NAZ MQA GC1750