The Manipur government has blacklisted “Gig Box Production Pvt. Ltd” from any tourism-related events and festivals in the future.
An order issued by the director of Tourism W Ibohal on Friday said the firm was blacklisted for their failure to pay prize money to Shirock 2022 winners.
“The negligence and the failure to prioritize payments by the Gig Box Production Pvt Ltd to pay prize winners of the competition of Shirock 2022 has tarnished the image of the Tourism department as well as the state government to a great extent,” said the order.
It stated that the state government had released Rs 3.5 crore in two installments (40% and 60% respectively) of the total budget of Rs 4.5 crore for organising the 4th Edition of the Shirui Lily Festival and the corresponding amounts was released to different sub-committees, departments, firms and others on May 21 and July 18.
The Shirock 2022 competition was organised by the Entertainment Sub Committee and the chairman, Entertainment Sub-Committee of Shirul Lily Festival 2022 vide DO No LILY-FEST/UkI/48 dated May 21, 2022 entrusted Gig Box Production Pvt Ltd to organise Shirock 2022, mentioned the order.
It stated that a claim made against the Tourism department for non-payment of prize money to the 2022 edition of SHIROCK organised as part of the Shirui Lily Festival 2022 has been doing the rounds on social media platforms.
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, it added.
The order mentioned that 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 prioritise 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.
