State Congress Chief Vincent H Pala today said that a time will come when the MDA government will be on the streets if they fail to scrap the Gaming Act.
Stating that there is resentment from the society on the Meghalaya Regulation Gaming Act and Rules, 2021 as this has led to the decision to set up casino in the State, Pala said, “The government has to withdraw otherwise the coalition will be in the street and the public will be in the Assembly one day.”
He said that almost every society, church leaders and organisations are opposed to casino and that the argument given by the government that it was done to attract tourists is “misplaced”. There are no facilities and all of these is due to rampant corruption, he added.
Pala argued that other natural resources bring in revenue for the State but these have gone to the pockets of “selected ones.” “If they are not getting revenues from all the resources, what revenue will they generate from gambling? Have they put it in the public domain or given any blueprint,” he questioned.
Pala said that the Congress is opposed to the Gaming Act and don’t see it as a political driven agenda. He said this is not the first time that the people are opposing it.
He further said that that liquor is being sold in the open market and licenses after licenses are being issued. As youth are getting hooked to liquor and drug abuse, they have nowhere to turn to due to the unavailability of government-run rehabilitation centres and the inability of the parents to put them in private rehabilitation centres.
“Parents, family members and society are suffering due to all these problems and the government is not at all bothered and concerned about except for filling up their pockets,” he added.
