How come police let a generation gamble everything away?

From our Correspondent

AZARA, Feb 16: The ‘Thoh Kyntip’, popularly called as ‘Teer’, of Meghalaya has spread its tentacles in Assam, far and wide. There are many in Assam who have been reduced to rags, thanks to ‘Teer’, a kind of gambling.  

Though ‘Teer’ is a legalized gambling in Meghalaya where the State Government gets a fat amount as revenue from it, it is banned in Assam. The word ‘ban’ here seems to be a misnomer as those running ‘Teer’ counters in Assam pay through their nose. One of the major differences between the amounts being spent by the ‘Teer’ counters in Meghalaya and their counterparts in Assam is that the amount paid in Meghalaya goes to the State exchequer as revenue, while amount being paid in Assam allegedly goes to the pockets of a section of police personnel.        

In their bid to make quick bucks, there are many in Assam who have gambled everything they had away. For them the saying ‘rag to riches’ has turned out to be ‘riches to rag’. Such people, mostly the young ones, are seen in the Azara and Borjhar areas on the outskirts of Guwahati. In areas like Godhuli Bazar, Mas Bazar, Garal, Dharapur etc., under Azara police station and Kahikuchi Farm Gate under Borjhar police station ‘Teer’ is going on openly, under the very nose of the police. The local people allege that the police collects fat amounts from ‘Teer’ bookies every night. “Or else how come ‘Teer’ counters run this illegal business here openly?” they questioned.

The local people in these areas are the worst affected ones because of this gambling as it has polluted the social atmosphere here. “Most of ‘Teer’ gamblers here have a life which can best be called – either feast or famine. When they can hit their target number they have more than enough, and when they can’t hit their target numbers for days together, they literally have to fast,” a section of local people here said, and added: “Such gamblers are generally chronic drinkers – they drink heavily on the joy of making profits and they drink heavily in the sorrow of making successive loss. The outcome is such that other members of such families suffer the worst for such a behaviour. What has worried us is that a section of young ones has also been addicted to this gambling. The police personnel here let a generation gambling everything they have away.”