Feature
Girl, along with other family members died on Birthday party night in fire incident
New Delhi: When the Verma family organised a birthday party for 12-year-old Harshu on Thursday, they had no inkling that it would be the last for her and some of them. The girl, her brother, their father and grandfather are dead while her mother was badly burnt as fire incident swept their home here shortly after the celebrations.
The incident occurred in Dilshad colony under Seemapuri area of east Delhi early on Friday.
A Delhi Fire Service Officer said a call was received at 3 a.m. about the blaze which started the ground floor’s parking area and subsequently spread to the other floors of the four-storey building. The cause was suspected to be a short-circuit in a electronic meter junction box in parking area.
Police said that the bodies of Harshu, 12, her father Sanjay Verma, 40, grandfather Vijay Verma, 63, and brother Chiku, 4, were found on the staircase of their second floor flat and they seemed to have died due to asphyxiation. Harshu’s mother Mona Verma, 34, received 40 to 50 per cent burn injuries and Binesh Rathi, 40, who jumped from the first floor for safety got injured. They are being treated in Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital here.
Mona’s younger sister Happy and her younger daughter Dishu, 10, saved their life by taking shelter at neighbour R.K Sharma’s flat at third floor.
Himani Chandra, a neighbour who informed police about the incident, told media persons: “The whole family was happy and celebrating the birthday of their daughter Harshu on Thursday evening and later went off to sleep at around 11.30 a.m. The family was fast asleep when the fire started at around 2.50 a.m. following which we saw smoke and heard loud cries. We immediately informed the fire department as well as police about the incident.”
Vijay Verma worked as a transporter, his son, Sanjay Verma worked as a medical representative in a Delhi-based company and the family were staying there for the last 10 years.
“Eleven fire tenders took two hours to douse the blaze. Police suspect the Verma family tried to get out of their second-floor apartment through the stairs but got caught in the flames and smoke and died of suffocation,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Nupur Prasad.
The other occupants of the building, which houses 15 flats, either stayed on their balcony or rushed to the rooftop to escape the fire.
“The fire broke out into the electric meter due to short circuit leading to minor explosion and spreads in a two wheelers parked adjacent to it. The blaze spread soon to other 15 bikes parked in the surroundings. The smoke of petrol and burning leather generated from the bikes probably filled in the house where victims sleeping and responsible for suffocation,” said fire service officer Vipin Kantal.
Meanwhile the narrow lanes and wrongly-parked cars delayed the fire tenders from reaching the spot by one and a half hours.
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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