Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Friday said the state government will repeal the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act (MRGA), 2021 through an ordinance.
Speaking to reporters, Sangma said “Repealing of the Act can be done through an ordinance and that ordinance can then be passed in the House.”
He said the government had earlier repealed the Meghalaya Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood Regulation of Street Vending) Act through an ordinance, which later regularized in the Assembly.
He said, “Similarly any Act can be repealed through an ordinance and this is the procedure that will be followed.”
When asked, the chief minister said by repealing the MRGA, there will not be any mechanism to regulate other forms of gambling activities in the state.
Sangma said the decision was taken after speaking to different stakeholders and in the larger interest of the people of the state.
The chief minister also informed that he had couple of discussions with the taxation minister even before the announcement was made.
When asked, Sangma however said the state government has always maintained that it will listen to the voice of the people.
“We strongly feel that when the concerns of the citizens are there, concerns of the people are there then the government must listen – so whether elections are there or not, the point is that this government has always kept that (voice of the people) as a priority. In many occasions, we have seen it has been done in this manner so it is being done from the point of people’s concern and people’s desire that this should be reviewed and that is what we have done,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Joint Action Committee against Casino from Ri Bhoi District on Friday expressed their unsatisfaction over the assurance given by the taxation minister that the MDA government will repeal the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and they want that the government should be given in black and white by issuing notification for the general public.
Speaking to the media persons at Nongpoh on Friday, Secretary of Joint Action Committee against Casino, Ferdynald Kharkamni said that by announcing only in media that the gaming act 2021 will be repealed is not acceptable and if the government wanted to scrap the act they should do in black and white by issuing notification to the general public.
“As long as the government has not issued the notification to repeal the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021, the JAC against the casino at Ri Bhoi will not listen to what he spoke in section of newspaper and electronic media and until and unless if the notification had been issued then we believed that the Act will be repealed” Kharkamni said.