Feature
27 die as coaches of Varanasi-bound train derail
Lucknow: At least 27 people were killed when the engine and two crowded coaches of a passenger train derailed in Uttar Pradesh on Friday after the driver overshot a signal, officials said.
The ghastly accident took place at Bachharwan railway station near Rae Bareli town when the Dehradun-Varanasi Janata Express was proceeding to Varanasi, an official statement said.
One of the two coaches which derailed was a sleeper class. The other was a general coach.
An official statement said the driver overshot a signal and ran into a sand bump, causing the derailment.
Among the first to reach the site were people from nearby villages.
When journalists too reached the place, furious locals raised slogans against the state and railway authorities, saying official rescuers took a long time to start helping the injured.
Mahesh Gupta, Lucknow divisional commissioner, earlier told IANS that the toll could rise.
Rescuers struggled to remove bodies crushed within the mangled coaches. Some bodies were pulled out from under the coaches, strewn on the railway tracks.
Each injured passenger was put on a stretcher and rushed to ambulances, to be ferried to hospital.
“The number of casualties is likely to increase as the general coach has been completely flattened,” an official told IANS.
Northern Railway officials said that prima facie the train driver seemed to be at fault.
“The train was to stop at the Bachharwan railway station but it did not. When he realized this, the driver applied the emergency brakes, leading to the derailment,” one official said earlier.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu expressed condolences over the deaths. The railways ordered a probe into the accident.
His ministry announced a compensation of Rs.2 lakh to families of each of the dead, Rs.50,000 to the seriously injured and Rs.20,000 to those who suffered minor injuries.
The Uttar Pradesh government announced similar compensation.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi expressed shock over the accident, which took place in her parliamentary constituency.
The accident disrupted train services on the important New Delhi-Lucknow-Varanasi sector.
A special relief train has been rushed from Lucknow, officials said. Six doctors and 20 ambulances were also sent to the accident site.
Around 100 beds were reserved in Lucknow hospitals to cater to the injured, officials here told IANS.
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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