Govt incurs Rs 13.74 crore expenditure for IFFI-2007

Panaji, Mar 24 (UNI) The Goa government had incurred expenditure of Rs 13.74 crore for the conduct of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI)-2007 as against Rs 10.64 crore in the previous year.

This was stated by chief minister Digambar Kamat in a written statement to a question in the state legislative assembly today.

The sponsorship comfirmed for the 2006 event was to the tune of Rs 1.72 crore as against Rs 3.54 crore for last year.

He clarified that the Government of Goa annually signs a memorandum of understanding with the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF), under the union I&B ministry.

The Entertainment Society of Goa was the nodal agency of the government, providing logistical support to the festival while the DFF takes care of the conduct of the festival including selection of films, jury and awards, Kamat said.

The authorities had paid Rs 1.17 crore to the artistes directly for participating in various local cultural programmes held during last year in IFFI as against the claimed Rs 2.07 crore so far.

The government was keen to encourage the local artistes and pay them cheques directly.

The cultural programmes were held at 11 different locations in Goa and films were screened at 30 places during the festival, he added.

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