Feature
Thick fog engulfs several parts and disrupts train Road, rail and air services
FOG
New Delhi: Thick fog engulfed several parts of Haryana and Punjab on Thursday morning, affecting life in both states. Visibility was reduced to less than 50 metres at a number of places in both states. The minimum temperature continued to dip at most places. It was recorded at 5.5 to 8 degrees at some places.
Road, rail and air services were affected due to the thick fog. The visibility at Ambala and Karnal in Haryana and Amritsar and Patiala in Punjab was reported to be less than 50 metres. Flight operations were affected at the Chandigarh International airport and the Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International airport in Amritsar.
The airport and other areas in and around Amritsar were engulfed with dense fog, affecting domestic and international flights. Punjab’s 553-km long international border was under the blanket of very thick fog with virtually zero visibility, a Border Security Force (BSF) official said in Amritsar.
Traffic movement on the busy National HIghway No. 1 (NH-1), which runs through Punjab and Haryana, connecting Amritsar with Delhi, was also affected due to the fog. Dense fog was reported from several areas of the NH-1 between Ambala and Kundli border of Haryana and Delhi. Other highways and roads were also affected by the fog cover.
Moderate to dense fog was reported from several parts of the national capital region (NCR) in Haryana comprising districts of Gurugram, Faridabad, Jhajjar, Hisar, Bhiwani, Sonipat, Panipat, Karnal and Rohtak. Railway officials said that some trains to and from Delhi and other destinations were delayed due to the fog. In Punjab, fog was reported from Amritsar, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Sangrur, Kapurthala and Jalandhar districts At least 100 trains were delayed and two trains cancelled due to dense fog on Thursday morning, railway officials said here.
“At least 100 trains were running behind schedule due to the dense fog,” a Northern Railway official. The 14005 Lichavi Express was running 31 hours behind the schedule 12303 Poorva Express was 27 hours behind schedule, the official said. According to officials, at 8.30 a.m. at least 15-20 trains were running late by more than 10 hours, while over 80 trains were running late by more than 2-5 hours.
The official further said that the railway has rescheduled 16 trains on Thursday. The two cancelled trains were 12501 Poorvottar Express and 15602 New Delhi-Silchar Express. Meanwhile, according to the officials at the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), which manages operations at the Indira Gandhi International airport here, no flight was cancelled on Thursday from Delhi. Thick fog engulfed several parts of Haryana and Punjab on Thursday morning, affecting life in both states.
Visibility was reduced to less than 50 metres at a number of places in both states. The minimum temperature continued to dip at most places. It was recorded at 5.5 to 8 degrees at some places. Road, rail and air services were affected due to the thick fog. The visibility at Ambala and Karnal in Haryana and Amritsar and Patiala in Punjab was reported to be less than 50 metres.
Flight operations were affected at the CHandigarh International airport and the Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International airport in Amritsar. The airport and other areas in and around Amritsar were engulfed with dense fog, affecting domestic and international flights. Punjab’s 553-km long international border was under the blanket of very thick fog with virtually zero visibility, a Border Security Force (BSF) official said in Amritsar.
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.
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