Feature
In first of kind India will soon get its interstate Metro between two cities
Lucknow: Good news for Metro commuters who use to travel between Delhi to Meerut as soon they will take less than 60 minutes once the Delhi-Meerut high-speed rail becomes a reality as Lucknow Metro director announced recently that Delhi Metro will extend its network till Meerut.
The Railways’ new ambitious plan is to make double use of a high-speed rail corridor from Delhi to run local metro services to Meerut with the same.
Originally, Corridor 1 of the Meerut metro was supposed to have 16 stations passing from the same areas as the National Capital Region Transport Corporation Limited’s (NCRTC) high-speed network.
Under the new proposed Regional Rail Transit system project, the NCRTC’s network, instead of overlapping with this part of the proposed Meerut Metro rail, will cut through it.
According to the new design, the 92.6-km Regional Rail Transit system long corridor will connect the metro network of Delhi at the Sarai Kale Khan on the Pink Line with the Meerut metro at Partapur, reports the journalists. So there will be no need to build two railways for the same path.
The NCRTC will be the executing authority for the project. It will be responsible for building six more stations in Meerut and parallel tracks to accommodate the city’s metro trains.
Now Metro will travel between these two Indian cities with interstate service:
“It has now been decided that in Meerut, we will construct parallel lines and metro trains will be purchased for that. While the RRTS train will not stop at these extra stations, there will be interchange facility at six other stations where the rapid train from Delhi will stop,” one of NCRTC’s spokespersons told media persons.
This move will not only help the government save over Rs 6,300 crore but also decongest the heavy road traffic on the 90-km stretch between the two cities.
The original estimated cost for Corridor I of the Meerut metro from Partapur to Modipuram was Rs 8388 crore. But after its integration into the RRTS network, the cost has come down to Rs 2,100 crore.
Once this Regional Rail Transit system is built, it will effectively allow faster commute between Meerut and Delhi for over 740000 passengers from an existing travel time of 150 minutes to less than 60 minutes.
The construction is expected to begin by July 2018.
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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