Feature
We will lay more than 30 km of highways per day: Gadkari
New Delhi: Shifting to top gear on laying of national highways, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said he will surpass his own target of 30 km per day by next year, against the current average of 14 km, lining up projects worth Rs.3.5 lakh crore.
“Our target was to achieve 30 km per day of road construction by two years of assuming office. Now this will be exceeded,” Gadkari said at an event here to release a report card booklet of his ministry on one year of Prime Minister Narendra Modi government.
“The target will be met. The finance ministry has assured funding for Rs.3.5 lakh crore worth of road construction projects in the coming six months. So, the speed will increase in laying of highways,” said Gadkari, who also oversees the shipping portfolio.
According to the minister, the task of placing orders worth Rs.3.5 lakh crore for construction of roads in the next six months will not be easy, as problems still persist, notably in areas such as land acquisition, regulatory clearances and financing.
“But we will do it. We will achieve all our targets set for this fiscal. Already, we have five new projects that have attracted bidders under the public-private partnership model and 17 more are in the final stages of being awarded using the hybrid model.”
According to various estimates, India currently has the world’s second-largest road network, totalling some 4.7 million km, transporting over 60 percent of all goods in the country and nearly 85 percent of passenger traffic. But the government itself says half of these roads are in poor shape.
This apart, highways account for only two percent of the total roads network but transport 40 percent of goods.
The minister said at May end the road construction pace stood at 14 km per day. In the last three months of the last government, the activity had come down to 2 km per day.
In terms of stuck projects, the minister said each and every one of the stalled project will be restarted by the end of next month.
“We have terminated some projects, invested additional equity in others. The rest of the stuck projects were helped by the cabinet’s recent decision to allow concessionaires to sell equity in completed projects and reinvest the funds in on-going projects,” the minister divulged.
Gadkari said when he took charge of the ministry last year, there were 240 projects in all under the public-private partnership (PPP) model, of which 186 were stuck. Of the remaining, 44 have now been terminated, 80 have been re-started and the remaining will re-commence by June.
The minister revealed that his ministry plans to compile a list of lucrative projects which are to be awarded and the changes in regulatory and clearance environment made to lure foreign funds, domestic banks and contractors back into the industry.
“The Prime Minister might soon host a conference to restore the confidence of banks, pension funds, endowment funds, foreign investors, domestic banks and contracts,” the minister said.
In 2014-15, the government was able to achieve 8,000 km of road construction from 3,621 km in 2013-14. Contracts worth Rs.45,000 crore were given out during the last fiscal.
Currently, there are 37,000 km of roads under construction through 1,231 projects, costing a total of Rs.2.25 lakh crore.
About his shipping portfolio, Gadkari said in the coming days, his ministry will promote a plan to build 12 Smart Cities around areas of ship building and ship breaking activity.
He said that shipyards have been directed to equip youth with skills in the ship building industry and that all his ministries will generate 25 lakh new jobs in the coming period.
On the new road safety bill, the minister said that the cabinet will soon consider it and then present it in parliament.
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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