Feature
Chennai inundates, people face hardships
Chennai: Steady and continuous rains throughout the night kept people in Tamil Nadu’s capital Chennai awake due to concerns over the rising water levels, residents said.
“Water came into our apartment and we had to shift to our neighbour’s house on the first floor,” Revathi Vasan, resident of west Mambalam, told on Wednesday.
Another family living on the ground floor has also shifted with us, Revathi said.
“There is waist deep water level around our apartment,” she added.
West Mambalam is located in the heart of the city.
In suburban areas flooding was severe with water levels covering the ground floor and threatening to enter the first floor.
People living at higher levels were opening up their doors to help the strangers.
“The situation was bad and the water level was increasing,” Jenson, resident of Sunambu Kolathur of Kanchipuram district told.
Even market areas like Anna Nagar in the city could not escape from flooding.
In many areas people made shift boats by tying up empty barrels to reach safer places.
The airport was closed Tuesday night, and could not start operations due to water logging in the runway.
Several passengers were stranded at the airport, railway and bus stations.
There was no power supply in many areas of Chennai, and mobile phone services were also affected due to the rains.
Meanwhile hotels were getting frantic calls from residents and stranded passengers for accommodation.
“We have couple of families staying with us as they were affected by water logging,” a hotel official told.
“In Villivakkam area the water level was up to my chest. I had to wade through the water for couple of kms and then catch a bus to my work place in Teynampet,” Suresh who works with a private sector company said.
It was raining opportunity for taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers who were charging sky high rates to ply short distances.
A taxi driver charged Rs.4,500 to transport three persons from airport to a hotel in Anna Salai.
Meanwhile, army and navy teams were called to carry out rescue efforts.
Schools and colleges were closed in the city.
The unprecedented torrential rains, which was recorded heaviest in the past 100 years, has battered Tamil Nadu’s northern districts such as Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kanchipuram and Cuddalore, Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa said while speaking to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.
Jayalalithaa told Modi that the state machinery was geared up to tackle the challenges.
The state has deployed Disaster Response Force, fire and rescue service personnel and coastal security group at the affected places.
The rains stopped on Wednesday morning and provided some respite to the people, but the weather office has forecast heavy rains for next three days.
During the last spell of rains, around 180 people lost their lives in the four district of Chennai, Kanchipuram, Cuddalore and Thiruvallur.
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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