Feature
IMD issues red alert in Mumbai for 24 hours; road, rail, air traffic hit
Mumbai: With heavy rains pounding Mumbai and its suburbs, the weather department today issued a ‘red alert’ for the city and adjoining areas and asked the authorities to be prepared to handle any situation. Out of the 150 weather stations in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), around 100 recorded over 200mm rainfall in last 24 hours, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
After a brief lull last week, rains resumed since Monday and with the south-west monsoon again getting activated, Mumbai and several other parts of the state witnessed heavy rains overnight and on Wednesday morning. The heavy rains have made a comeback at a time when people across the state are celebrating the 10-day long Ganpati festival.
Heavy overnight rain caused water-logging in several parts of Mumbai, triggering traffic disruptions and train delays this morning. The civic authorities have declared a holiday in schools in the city amid a heavy rain alert. An orange alert – likelihood of heavy to very heavy rain – was sounded by the weather office for the city on Tuesday for the next two days.
Water-logging occurred in areas near Mumbai’s King Circle railway station and Gandhi market. IMD has forecast heavy rain at isolated places in Mumbai till September 6. An ‘orange alert’ with forecast of heavy to very heavy rainfall has been issued for September 6, one of the days for Ganesh Visarjan.
The air services have been affected as several flights have been delayed at airports in Mumbai. In Mumbai, areas including Sion, Parel, Dadar and Byculla received heavy rain since morning. According to a recent update, train services have been temporarily suspended between Thane and CSMT due to heavy water-logging on tracks. Taking to Twitter, Central Railway notified that both up and down fast line train services between Sion and Matunga are held up due to severe water logging. “Our team assessed on the spot as water level is above track level. Kindly bear with us,” said the Central Railway.
Western Railway suburban services are running without any disruption between Churchgate and Vasai Road. However, due to track failure at Virar, the trains between Vasai Road and Virar are running with less frequency. Western Railway in a tweet said,“Kindly note-virar- due to point failure since 9.16 hours on down slow and up fast line, trains being reversed from Vasai Road and Bhayander. Water Logging reported due to heavy rain at Virar .” Due to waterlogging at Sion, Gandhi Market, Pratiksha Nagar, Motilal Nagar, Milan subway, Andheri East and Malad subway, BEST has diverted several bus routes.
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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