Feature
Fog returns to UP, adds to winter chill, cripples transport
Lucknow: After a gap of more than a week, fog resurfaced in the state capital and other parts of Uttar Pradesh Saturday, adding to the winter chill.
The Regional Met office has predicted a long spell of fog but the snowfall in the neighbouring h
ill state of Uttarakhand has ceased.
The weatherman said the winter chill would intensify in the coming days, with the day temperatures also dropping to new lows.
While the district magistrate (DM) Lucknow has directed all schools to open at the new timing of 9 a.m., many parents have petitioned the district administration and the school authorities to prepone the winter vacations, specially for children below standard five, in light of the cold wave.
The visibility owing to fog has reduced to around 20-50 metres while the ‘Uttari-Pachua’ winds blowing across the state have led to a further reduction in temperatures. The maximum temperature in the city was 19 degrees Celsius Friday, which was five notches below the normal. The minimum temperature, for the second consecutive day continued to be at five degrees Celsius, which is two degrees below the normal.
Friday was recorded as the coldest day in the season so far, the weatherman said. Dry weather conditions have also aggravated the situation. In the coming days, mornings and late nights would witness heavy to very dense fog, the regional Met director J.P. Gupta said.
The dense fog has also crippled transport in the state. While most flights to the city have been delayed, more than six dozen trains continue to run behind their schedules. Officials said Friday that landing of flights at the Chaudhary Charan Singh international airport were only possible after 11 a.m. as there was very poor visibility.
Inbound flights were later allowed to land only after 11 a.m. and the flights taking off were further delayed till the fog cleared up. The usual times for flights to land in Lucknow is around 6.30 a.m.
Officials of the Northern Railways (NR) and North-eastern Railways (NER) told that on all major routes trains were running late owing to very heavy fog.
The 04932 Delhi-Varanasi Special was running behind schedule by 11 hours, while trains like the Gomti Express, Duranto Express, and Lucknow Mail were running late by 3-9 hours. The Avadh Express, Gorakhdham Express, Kaifiyat Express were late by seven hours while Kota-Patna Express and Vaishali Express were late by six hours, officials said. More than two dozen trains were running late by 3-4 hours Friday.
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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