MATKA THAKUR

The split in the Tarun Bharat ownership seems to have really hurt the newspaper.
Brutal management and mercenary instincts of Kiran Thakur’s nephew Ashok Dhond had seen TB take on the Dainik Gomantak successfully.
But now internal bickering has resulted in Dhond carving out the publishing slice of the business pie for himself, leaving the bearded Kiran alias Mama Thakur with the string of newspapers.
The paper has slipped since. Goa Doot has been eating into its readership and Gomantak’s slipping back into the groove. And Mama’s sluggishness doesn’t help much…
Mama Thakur seems to have taken the easy but unethical way out… Tarun Bharat has once again restarted publishing matka numbers daily on its pages. This trend has begun in the vernacular papers after about 7/8 years.
Can’t these guys be penalised for publishing this?
GUJ could at least condemn such a trend? What credibility does it leave your newspaper/journos with? Even if you tuck it in the inside pages, it is such vulgar slur on the profession…
A reader mailed us this scanned image of Tarun Bharat’s August 4 edition.
And guess what guys… what the matka industry has failed to do in decades of its existence, we mediamen manage to do so easily… get the numbers wrong… haha (check the scanned image)
And guess what guys… Herald has had this poll on its internet edition for about a month or more now.
The poll question is ‘Should madka gambling be legalised in the state?’
Wanna see the results…

For over 1507 votes polled, 465 voters feel that this form of gambling should be legalised as it would generate more revenue to the government. Another 317 voters also say that matka should be legalised as it would then ‘cease to be a flourishing illegal activity’.

That’s an astounding 52 per cent vote for legalising matka in the state.