Feature
Ask Bangladesh for better access, Tripura CM urges Modi
Agartala: Tripura has urged the prime minister to pursue Bangladesh so that it allows access to its water and land routes that could be used to transport material to the northeartern states, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said.
After meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi here Monday night, Sarkar told reporters that access to Chittagong international port and Ashuganj river port in Bangladesh is crucial for ferrying men and material from the other parts of India and abroad to the northeastern states.
“A multi-modal transportation system using Bangladeshi ports is crucial for the northeastern states as the region is mountainous and having rough terrain,” he said.
“If necessary, after talking with the Bangladesh government, India can invest in developing the infrastructure of the two ports,” he said.
“India must pursue the Bangladesh government for regular use of Chittagong and Ashuganj ports to carry food grains, essentials, heavy machineries and other goods for northeastern states.”
Chittagong sea port is around 70 km from over the Meghna river in eastern Bangladesh is around 40 km from Tripura.
Sarkar said besides the ports, India’s access to land and air routes and connectivity between India and Bangladesh are vital for the region’s development.
After visiting Assam, Nagaland and Manipur, Modi was in the Left-ruled state Monday. He inaugurated the second unit (363 MW) of the 726 MW capacity power plant in southern Tripura’s palatana, 60 km south of here.
The gas-based power project was commissioned by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) at a cost of Rs.10,000 crore.
Sarkar said that to improve the telecommunications network of the northeastern region, an alternate telecom routing through Bangladesh is vital and urged Modi to pursue the matter with Dhaka.
“Following our demand, the FCI (Food Corporation of India) has taken steps to ferry another 35,000 tonnes of rice for Tripura via Bangladesh as train services in the northeastern states have been stopped till March 2016 due to gauge conversion,” Sarkar added.
The FCI recently ferried 10,000 tonnes of rice for Tripura in two phases from Visakhapatnam port in Andhra Pradesh via Bangladesh.
The transportation via Bangladesh is much easier as road connectivity is a big factor for the mountainous northeastern states which share boundaries with Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and China.
There is only a narrow land corridor to the northeastern region from India through Assam and West Bengal but this route passes through hilly terrain with steep gradients and multiple hairpin bends, making plying of vehicles, especially loaded trucks, very difficult.
For instance, Agartala via Guwahati is 1,650 km from Kolkata by road and 2,637 km from New Delhi, while the distance between Agartala and Kolkata via Bangladesh is just about 350 km.
The Tripura government has also urged the prime minister to set up a Central Agricultural University, and an institute each of the Indian Institute of Management and the Indian Institute of Technology to make the northeastern state an educational hub.
Sarkar said: “We have asked the prime minister to step up the works for setting up the proposed fertiliser plant in Tripura by ONGC. A petro-chemical complex using the natural gas, found abundantly in Tripura, must be set up in Tripura. Both projects would also resolve the unemployment problems of northeast India.”
The ONGC in association with Rajasthan-based private-sector fertiliser company Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited (CFCL) and the Tripura government would set up the Rs.5,000 crore plant in northern Tripura.
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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