Shiv Sena asks for government guidelines on Pokemon Go

In view of the craze surrounding Pokemon Go, Shiv Sena on Friday asked the Maharashtra government to issue precautionary guidelines on playing the augmented
reality mobile game.

Raising a point of proprietary in Legislative Council, Shiv Sena leader Neelam Gorhe asked the BJP-led government to issue the directions considering safety of students.

On his part, Council chairman Ramraje Nimbalkar directedgovernment to take serious note of the issue raised by Gorhe.

"The game is being played by children and even old. In order to play the game, one needs to constantly keep the GPS system on and keep on wandering in search of the Pokemon. The game entails catching the Pokemon wherever one finds it and develop it.

"To catch the Pokemon, students and children keep on wandering even at midnight. Since the serial is quite popular on television channels, all school children and college students are playing it wandering on the streets going in all directions," she added.

Gorhe said children wander into unprotected places while trailing Pokemon and are prone to meet with accidents. They might also forget where they are at that moment.

"In Indonesia, one person while playing the game reached an army base whereas in Kuwait the government has banned downloading the gaming App because it can cause
important information going out," the MLC said.

In Guatemala, two children were fired upon as they reached a desolate place, she said.

"In Arizona, a medical school issued e-mails to all students about taking precautions while playing the Pokemon Go game," she said requesting issuance of precautionary guidelines for playing the game.

Pokemon Go, released in many parts of world this month, makes use of GPS and the camera of compatible devices.

The game allows players to capture, battle, and train virtual creatures, called Pokémon, who appear on device screens as though in the real world.