Puducherry Govt To Introduce Bill To Ban Online Rummy Game In Assembly After Centre's Approval

BJP legislator PML Kalyanasundaram said the youth should be protected as there were instances of the players falling prey to the game

On the day when Tamil Nadu readopted the TN Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulate of Online Games Bill in the Assembly, Puducherry Minister K Lakshminararyanan on Thursday announced in the assembly that the territorial government has prepared a draft bill to ban online rummy games in the union territory and it would be sent to the Centre for approval. The Pondicherry government will pass the bill once the Centre approves it. 

He was replying to the pleas made by members belonging to both the ruling and opposition blocks after DMK leader R Siva tabled a call attention motion seeking steps to ban online rummy games.

The PWD Minister said, "there is no second opinion on the part of the government to ban the game. We have already prepared a Bill to ban it and after getting approval from the Centre, the Bill would be placed on the table of the House for a detailed debate and after the adoption of the Bill the necessary Act would be enforced."

Earlier, moving the call attention motion, Siva stressed the immediate need to ban the game. Another DMK member L Sampath said he had prepared a regulation and submitted it to the Puducherry government to ban the online rummy game.

BJP legislator PML Kalyanasundaram said the youth should be protected as there were instances of the players falling prey to the game.

After the zero hour in the House on Thursday, Lakshminarayanan made an announcement that the Centre had sanctioned Rs 92.46 crores for fish landing infrastructures in the coastal villages of Periya Kalapet, Nallavadu and the expansion of the fishing harbour in Thengaithittu.

"All three projects are fully funded by the central government and they would be completed in the next 18 months." He further said that the government had come out with proposals to ameliorate a lot of the fishermen.

Meanwhile, the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu has passed the TN Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulate of Online Games Bill for the second time in Assembly. The bill will be sent to Governor RN Ravi for assent.

As reported earlier, the Bill was necessitated since Madras High Court struck down the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Gaming and Police Laws (Amendment) Act 2021. Over 47 suicides have been reported due to the losses faced during online gambling games in Tamil Nadi so far.

(With PTI inputs)