Gig Box black listed from tourism related events, festivals over delay in furnishing cash prize of Shirock winner

Imphal: Manipur tourism department has black listed Gig Box Production Pvt. Ltd., Thangapat Mapal, Wangkhei, Imphal East, Manipur, from any tourism related events and festivals in future.

This was said in an order issued by the Directorate of Tourism on Friday.

The Shirock 2022 competition was organised by the Entertainment Sub-Committee and the chairman, Entertainment Sub-Committee of Shirui Lily Festival 2022 vide D,0 No. LILY-FEST/UkI/48 dated May 21, entrusted Gig Box Production Pvt. Ltd. to organise Shirock 2022. The ‘Prophets’ a band from Mizoram was declared the winner of the competition and an amount of Rs 10 lakh was to be awarded to ‘Prophets’ for winning the competition. “A claim made against the tourism department for non-payment of prize money for the 2022 edition of Shirok organised as part of the Shirui Lily Festival 2022 has been doing the rounds on social media platforms, the order mentioned.”

It said the total budget for organising the 4th edition of the Shirui Lily Festival was Rs 4.5 crore out of which Rs 3.5 crore was released by the government in two installments (40 percent and 60 percent respectively) and the corresponding amounts was released to different sub-committees, departments, firms etc. on May 21 and July 18 respectively by the department.

The total amount allocated for the Entertainment Sub-Committee was Rs 1,55,55,555 and the same has been released to the deputy commissioner, Ukhrul on the above-mentioned dates. The payment is to be made by the event manager of Shirock 2022 out of the funds released to them on installment basis and the event manager has failed to prioritize payments and distribute the money uniformly amongst vendors/firms/bands engaged in Shirock 2022, thereby, resulting in claims for unpaid dues by prize winners of Shirock 2022, the order said.

“The negligence and the failure to prioritize payments to prize winners of the competition has tarnished the image of the department as well as the government of Manipur to a great extent,” it said.

Considering the irreparable loss to the image and prestige suffered by this department and Manipur after due approval of the government blacklists the firm- Gig Box Production Pvt. Ltd. from any tourism related events and festivals in future, it added.