Talking to The Shilong Times on Sunday, Mr Shylla did not dismiss the possibility of standing for the elections as an Independent if the court ruled in favour of Mr Waibha.

The Deputy Commissioner's Court is scheduled to hear on February 5 the case filed by a relatively new organisation -- Seng Tip Kur Tip Kha U Khasi - against Mr Kyndiah's tribal status.

"I will wait for the court's decision before deciding my future course of action," Mr Shylla said, adding, "I am keeping my options open."

Having been ignored for Congress ticket for Nongkrem seat, the KHADC CEM last year kicked up a storm by claiming that Mr Waibha had violated the Khasi Lineage Act by taking his father's surname.

Mr Shylla later formally lodged a complaint with MPCC president OL Nongtdu and Chief Minister DD Lapang, questioning Mr Waibha's eligibility to contest elections from Nongkrem constituency, which is reserved for ST candidates.

Meanwhile, Congress sources alleged that Mr Shylla was playing "a mind game" only to hold on to the post of KHADC CEM for some more time.

"Mr Shylla knows that if he leaves the party at this moment, he will not only lose the CEM's post but will have to resign as MDC as well," the sources added.

Congress workers, who are said to be close to Mr Waibha, have expressed surprise that despite Mr Shylla's numerous allegations against the party's official nominee, MPCC has not said "a word or warned" him.

In a bid to strengthen its cadre strength ahead of the Assembly elections, MDP is going all out to swell its rank and file by roping in former bureaucrats, academicians and well-known personalities.

In its latest such drive, MDP has brought to its fold a young IFS officer of the Orissa cadre THS Bonney and as many as 81 followers.

MDP joint secretary BK Khongjirem told The Shillong Times on Sunday that Mr Bonney, and his supporters numbering 81 had already been enrolled into the party.

He said MDP's Sohiong Circle would be formed on January 24 at a party meeting where Mr Bonney could be approved as MDP candidate for Sohiong constituency.

Mr Khongjirem expressed the hope that more people of high integrity and background would join the party in the coming days.

"The moral of MDP is on a high throughout the State and the party has been gearing up well for the elections," Mr Khongjirem added.

TURA: The most wanted ULFA militant in Garo Hills, "area commander" Madan Koch was shot dead in a joint operation by police and Army personnel near Garobadha in West Garo Hills district early Sunday morning.

Acting on a tipoff, Army personnel from 3rd Sikh Regiment, based in Lakhipur, Assam, along with SOT commandos of West Garo Hills Police raided the hideout of the ULFA leader at Katalbari village, near Garobadha, at 3:20 a.m. resulting in an exchange of fire.

In the encounter that lasted for about half an hour, the rebel was killed and police recovered two packets of RDX, a pistol with two magazines and some ammunition from the encounter site. Police also seized one wireless handset, a mobile phone with two sim cards and some demand notes on ULFA letter pad.

The killing of the ULFA leader is believed to be a significant breakthrough for security forces in Garo Hills because Madan Koch was the senior-most leader of the outfit operating in Garo Hills.

He used to oversee the shipment of explosives and weapons from across Bangladesh which would pass through Garo Hills enroute to Assam.

SHILLONG: A war of words between two principal political parties, Congress and NCP, has begun, with NCP retaliating to Congress' warning to its Laban constituency candidate Sanbor Shullai by calling the Congress antics as "cheap political stunts."

MPCC on Saturday charged Mr Shullai with violating party rules by joining NCP without tendering resignation from the party. MPCC president OL Nongtdu had said Mr Shullai could be charged under the anti-defection law.

Incidentally, Mr Shullai is still a member of KHADC belonging to Congress.

But, it perhaps matters little as to what the rulebook says, as right now charges and counter-charges of one form of violation or the other are flying thick and fast. NCP in retaliation on Sunday said Congress should watch its own backyard before sending out warnings to others.

NCP's State president Dr WR Kharlukhi said Congress should realise that "similar action could be initiated against Monindro Rava who has been given Congress ticket to contest the election in spite of the fact that Mr Rava is yet to resign as NCP member."

Reacting to reports that appeared in certain section of the press, Mr Kharlukhi said, "It is surprising that the Congress president could give such a statement when his own party has actually violated the anti-defection law as far as giving party tickets is concerned."

According to Dr Kharlukhi a case in point of the violations were those of MDP legislator Draishon Kharshiing and two Independent MLAs Sengman Marak and Francis Pondit Sangma. The State NCP president said these candidates had "violated the anti-defection law as none of them have tendered their resignation as members of Meghalaya Legislative Assembly before getting Congress tickets."

He also said NCP was concerned about "the cheap political stunts" played by Congress. Interestingly, NCP's concern came with a word of caution, that said, "such game played by its (Congress) leaders would only expose how immature they are while trying to cover up their misdeeds for the last five years."

Meanwhile, Mr Nongtdu defended his party, saying all the four legislators who had been accused by NCP of violating rules had already resigned as members of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly.

"After resigning as an MLA, Mr Rava is no longer an NCP MLA and he is not required to resign from the party," Mr Nongtdu said.

In a recent meeting between MBoSE Chairman Tony Marak and members of the All Meghalaya Book Sellers' Association, it was agreed that all books would be supplied free freight upto Shillong and Tura from all the publishers of books, the release added.

The Chairman of the Board also assured to the book sellers that the books will not be changed for next five years.

According to the KSU, all the 37 persons, though they claimed they hail from Nagaon, Assam they could not produce any valid document to prove their identity as genuine Indian citizens. The migrants were on their way to Tripura to work in a construction company engage in railway track construction.

Later, all of them were handed over to the police. The police on Sunday deported all of them back to Assam.

Shillong: CBI continued to raid the residences of several top officials of the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) in connection with the alleged fraudulent awarding of insurance contract of the corporation's Assam-based thermal plant.

CBI sleuths conducted raids at the residences of former NEEPCO CMD S C Sharma at Delhi, former executive director PK Deka, present GM (Finance) Venkatesh and Director (Finance) MR Ghosh since Saturday evening and seized several documents.

Deka is now the vice chairman of Brahmaputra Board.

CBI officials confirmed the raids and said anti-corruption cases have been registered against them with regards to awarding of contracts of the corporations projects to insurance companies.

The officials, however, refused to divulge any further saying, "We have to examine the seized documents first."

While no Neepco official was available for comment, CBI sources said the officials were accused of forging document while awarding contract of NEEPCOs thermal power plant at Bakuloni in Tinsukia district of Assam to insurance company Bajaj Allianz.

Till a couple of years back, the Oriental Company used to insure the corporations projects, while now it is being given to the Bajaj Allianz group, the sources pointed out, saying that the handing over of the contract was done fraudulently, and the scam amounts to over Rs 3 crore.

The Rs 1500-crore thermal-based plant at Bakuloni was commissioned in 1998 with a total installed capacity of 291 MW. It has nine units,six gas-based and three steam-based and has been generating 235-240 MW presently. The thermal power is distributed through four lines to Tinsukia, Mariani (Jorhat), Misa (Nagaon) and Deomali in Arunachal Pradesh.

The plant was insured by Bajaj Allianz in 2005, with one-year validity and the insured sum was subject to vary depending on the assets and depreciation. The CBI may conduct raids at the residences of several other top officials, officials here said. The CBI raids came a year after the then CMD of Neepco, SC Sharma, resigned following charges of corruption.

Before the incumbent CMD Jayanta Barkotoky took over charge, present Director (Finance) Ghosh was handling additional charge as the NEEPCO boss for sometime. (PTI)

The government of India has unveiled a "Power for All" plan, whereby it will be setting up ultra mega power projects (UMPP) as to enable every household to have electricity connection by 2012. The government plans to add 100,000 MW of power generation capacity in the 11th plan. With the private players showing active interest and funding no longer a major issue, that should not be a problem.

The UMPPs have affected the economy in more ways than one. The international competitive bidding process for the allocation of the projects resulted in discovery of prices more competitive than was thought possible for electrical energy. While the state electricity boards were making losses even after selling power at Rs. 3 or more a unit, the private sector bidders have offered a levelised tariff of Rs. 1.196 and Rs. 2.26 per unit for the two UMPPs at Sasan and Mundra, respectively. With the expected success of these UMPPs, the demand for alternate energy sources will definitely decrease and it is possible the rates of other fuels might well be on the road to price discovery.

The Power Ministry has done well for this important price discovery. The innovation has been to combine the economies of scale through pithead power generation with competitive bidding. But it could have done better. The government has been inefficient in not looking at the projects from a systems perspective. The sites, viz, Sasan (MP), Mundra (coastal Gujarat), Akaltara (Chhattisgarh), Ratnagiri (Maharashtra) and coastal Karnataka were broadly chosen on the basis of either being pithead, coastal receiving imported coal, or coastal with domestic or blended coal. Instead, it should have been the outcome of a cost minimisation programme or else the ministry must have left the decision to the bidders. All they needed to specify was the load centres and quantum of demand in each of them. They could have evolved a common wheeling charge in consultation with the central and state regulators.

Premature selection of site and foreclosing the choice of imported versus domestic coal have introduced inefficiency in the project. We are content with the tariffs that have been bid by the private players and assume that the tariffs bid are the lowest possible generation cost the developer could have bid. But these tariffs could have been lower, if private sector had its way in deciding the optimal location and had the choice regarding importing or locally procuring the coal.

The approach to select sites for the project seems to be dependant on the availability of optimum location in terms of seismological, geological factors, availability of land and to some extent political issues. The critical factor of location of load centre doesn't seem to figure in the list of parameters of the government and therefore projects are coming up at locations which may not be best suited for a large thermal power plant.

With the coastal regions governed by coastal laws which are different and more stringent on the environmental aspects, installing such a large thermal project would definitely raise eyebrows of the environmentalists. There has been an attempt to address the issue with stipulation that only imported coal be used for the coastal projects. But is that a solution in the long term?

Why do we at all need a project at the coastal region fired by coal imported at a much higher price than Indian coal and finally end up paying a higher price for the electricity thus generated? With the world's third largest reserves of coal (and proven reserves of over 250 billion tonnes), which can meet India's power needs for many years to come, do we need to import coal from abroad at the cost of our own coal mines?

Energy experts are of the opinion that the use of domestic coal even at Mundra from the domestic sources would bring down the levelised cost by about 50 paise per kwh. This, of course, begs the question why power plants should not be at a pithead location and electricity transported to the load centres. Mundra UMP was awarded with the clause that the Tata Power can only use imported coal for energy production, whereas Sasan UMPP uses captive mine for domestic coal. Result is a difference of more than one rupee per unit of energy between two projects which are exactly the same in scale and most probably in technology too.

The identification of the sites for the project should have been left to the private bidder and the bids should have been invited after incorporating the wheeling and transmission costs for the power from the UMPP plant to the load centre.

It appears that the UMPPs are being awarded to the states as rewards for good performance. What is required, instead, is a much more holistic approach which incorporates the effect of existing power generation centres (interaction effect if any). Rather than treating the UMPPs in isolation, the government needs to focus on a comprehensive systems framework and look from an economic perspective. (INAV)

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) on which the UPA government has spent Rs. 40,000 crore has come under scrutiny by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). The study by the CAG has revealed leakage of funds, and the money earmarked has not reached the poor for whom the scheme was formulated. The main focus of the report is on the conformity of the programme with the provisions of the Act as well as with the operational guidelines. The report points out, quite rightly, that the guidelines are routinely violated. This applies, in particular, to the transparency safeguards, making the programme vulnerable to leakages.

There is an important message here, but it is not the same as to say that NREGA funds "don't reach the poor." A large proportion of these funds does reach, and makes a big difference to the lives of, the rural poor. This crucial point should not be lost in the din of arguments for and against the NREGA. Further, recent studies clearly show that it is possible to enforce the transparency safeguards, and that this can go a long way in preventing corruption. This view is fully consistent with the CAG's analysis.

The key message of the draft CAG report is a constructive one, summed up in the concluding paragraph: "The Ministry of Rural Development needs to ensure that state governments take swift and immediate action to remedy these deficiencies and improve their administrative and technical infrastructure…, so that the forthcoming expansion of NREGA to cover all rural districts in the country can be successfully implemented." The report presents useful recommendations on how to strengthen the required support structures, relating for instance to staff appointments, record-keeping and financial management.

The Central government would do well to heed this constructive message. The extension of the NREGA to the whole country, just three months from now, is one of the biggest organisational challenges any government has ever faced. It is also an unprecedented opportunity to build the foundations of a social security system in rural India, revive village economies, promote social equity, and empower rural labourers.

As things stand, however, this bold initiative looks like a political stunt, shorn of the far-reaching preparations that are required to make it a success. It is in this context that the draft CAG report needs to be treated as a useful wake-up call, rather than as another stick to beat the Act with.

Ever since its enactment in mid-2005 NREGA has been a target of relentless attacks in the corporate-sponsored media. Numerous business columnists most of whom have never seen an NREGA worksite (except perhaps from an airplane); have gone out of their way to rubbish this programme. "Expensive gravy train", "money guzzler", "costly joke" and "wonky idea" are the colourful terms they have used to describe it.

It would be surprising if this had nothing to do with the "subversive" character of the NREGA. Indeed, the Act runs counter to the current reorientation of economic policy and state intervention in favour of corporate interests, misleadingly known as "market-oriented reforms."

As one commentator recently put it, the NREGA is a prime case of "meddling in markets". It is another matter that the state freely "meddles with markets" when it suits business interests, whether it is by forcibly acquiring land on their behalf, or by creating special economic zones, or by defending the so-called "intellectual property rights." The difference is that the NREGA empowers the working class-there lies the danger.

The Act has some major flaws, and there is much scope for reasoned critiques of it as well as for searching assessments of its implementation on the ground. What is striking, however, is that informed critiques of the Act have been few and far between. Instead, a plethora of shallow arguments have been invoked to deride it.

By way of illustration, prominent media attention was given a few months ago to a so-called "study by the India Development Foundation," allegedly showing that the NREGA caused inflation. This is an outlandish claim. One fails to understand why this particular item of government expenditure was singled out as being responsible for inflation, as opposed to, say, the defence budget, which is almost 10 times as expensive. Further enquiry revealed that this "study" did no exist; it was just a speculative remark made at a panel discussion by a member of this Foundation. Nevertheless, this hot air was promptly pumped into the propaganda balloon.

To put things in perspective, there has also been much "pro-NREGA" propaganda, mainly from the government. For instance, according to a recent note from the Press Information Bureau (released on December 28, 2007), the NREGA is nothing short of a "tremendous success." This assertion, not backed by any serious evidence, is typical of the ostrich-like attitude of the Central government to the hurdles that are holding up the implementation of the NREGA. Government propaganda, however, is relatively innocuous since the public knows that official claims have to be taken with a pinch of salt. Corporate propaganda is more subtle, and thus more insidious. (INAV)

Sir,

I never thought I would have to speak out and continue remaining mouth shut on the colossal mismanagement, incompetence and humungous political interference exerted on the MeSEB. I do, however, grant that it is not the only State-run electricity board or corporation constantly and consistently in red barring Maharastra State Electricity Board!

Thanks to absence of corporate methodology of management everything is primitive but for the veneer of sophistication. lt is partially because the entire board of directors and a large section of the top layer of employees are compelled to pledge their allegiance to the political whips willy nilly. And today the Aam Aadmi is being asked to pay for the political nose-poking, utter lack of management, awful incompetence and politically-advanced massive unpaid arrears (for the power used) from established companies, cement factories et al and also fly-by-night haat-style operators. And foothill-camp attitude of the Board from head to toe and probably beyond!

Myopic as they were the "successive governments, till recently, boasted about the surplus powered by actual power surplus at one point of time and invited industrialists and corporate houses to set up shops without examining the ground Zero's preparedness and worthiness (and are still trying to sell the theoretical potential to the USA and Thailand whilst even the road leading to the State's capital is in tatters and condemnation worthy!)

Who do we blame? Even the State's intelligentsia failed in its responsibility. All of the relatively progressive amongst us were busy training our eyes on the entrance when the backdoor was kept unattended!

Did many of us know that at one point of time the power deficit almost touched 230 per cent compared to Assam's 16.69 per cent. And we thought successive poor monsoons and deficit rainfall were to blame and tolerated the power cuts with patriotic zeal despite the discomfort and anxiety! Today they are asking us to shell out the last burnt copper whilst big industrial houses in the State, run mostly by the mahajans/seths who have very little stake in the State's people's interests, are allowed or accorded the special privilege of withholding collective power/energy arrears in excess of Rs 50 crore. An industrial house allocated in East Garo Hills alone owes the MeSEB some Rs 8 crore while one in Jaintia Hills and another in Ri-Bhoi around Rs 7 crore.

Give the ant its due, forget the size of the elephant that got electrocuted!

Yours etc.,
SR Marak
Ninsinggittim, Nongalbibra

Agartala: The Union Ministry of Chemicals has planned to bring life-saving drugs under the Centre's control to ensure unified price of the medicines across the country as well as to make them available everywhere at affordable costs.

Talking to UNI here on Sunday, Union minister for Chemicals, Fertilisers and Steel Ramvilas Paswan said most of the chemical industries were under private ownership and had been squeezing money from the people.

He informed that only 74 life-saving drugs were under the Centre's control and there was neither supply crisis nor price controversy.

''The Centre proposes to bring all the life-saving medicines under the control of the Union Ministry to improve the health facilities in the country,'' Mr Paswan said.

Referring to the development avenues in the NE, Mr Paswan said the Centre was trying to exhort some private chemical companies to invest in the region, as barring two chemical establishments, all the others were managed by the private enterprises.

He stated that once railway lines would be constructed upto Agartala, it would be easier for the State Government to approach the entrepreneurs to invest in such profit-oriented sectors.

He also said Tripura had an added advantage as it had huge natural gas reserves.

''Tripura has great prospects in setting up chemical hubs, fertiliser industries and other heavy industrial units, in which the Centre would definitely assist,'' Mr Paswan added. (UNI)

"My childhood dream has been fulfilled today," said Mamoni Raisom Goswami, who has contributed a lot in establishing the institute as she donated her residence in the city for setting up the South East Asia Ramayana Research Institute.

The institute will grant two fellowships every year for three years duration, one to a foreign scholar and the other to an Indian to pursue necessary studies on Ramayana, informed Goswami. These scholars will be provided with assistance from the institute to carry on their research properly. The Government will be approached for financial assistance to provide these scholarships, added Goswami. "We are trying to get affiliation for the institute from Gauhati University and will also approach Agra University and Institute of Oriental Philosophy, Brindavan for the same," informed Goswami.

The institute will also work to promote the folk forms of Ramayana in the State.

Goswami said, "To protect the folk forms of Ramayana and to encourage these forms, scholars of the institute will travel to the villages and the tribal areas to promote the folk literature."

Dr Nuria Mahammad, Malaysia inaugurated the South East Asia Ramayana Research Institute. The trust of the institute will invest one lakh rupees in the field of research on Ramayana, informed Subrata Baruah, a scholar of Assam. She said, "The Ramayana has migrated all over the world like the clouds of the 'Meghdootam' and has transcendence all caste, creed and sex." (EP)

Guwahati: Assam Government has finally put a blanket ban on import of poultry products from neighbouring West Bengal because of incidence of bird flu in that State.

Official sources here informed that as the culling of poultry birds has begun in West Bengal where the situation is very serious, Assam Government, fearing dumping of bird flu affected birds in the State, decided to impose ban on poultry import from West Bengal.

A high-level committee headed by State's Additional Chief Secretary and comprising heads of all the concerned departments including Veterinary, Health, Home, Transport, Forest, Public Health Engineering and Urban Development has been constituted in Assam to monitor the situation to prevent incidence of bird flu in the State.

The State Forest Department has been instructed to alert its wildlife staffs to keep a close watch on migratory birds visiting the State at this time of the year to spot, if any, carrier of Avian Influenza virus. All other concerned departments and district administrations will coordinate with Forest Department in keeping a tab on winged visitors to the State.

The Government has asked the Forest Department officials to report prompt any unnatural death to migratory birds in any part of the State and take immediate step to collect the blood samples of such deceased birds, if any, with the help of health and veterinary department officials.

Thousands of migratory birds either fly over Assam or visit water bodies all over the State including those located in notified forest and wildlife areas during the period between November and February.

Addressing a press conference at Dimapur on Saturday, MP and RJD in-charge of the North East Manganilal Mandal said the decision over the number of candidates to be fielded would be finalised only after consultation with party supremo Lalu Prasad.

He also informed that the Nagaland unit of the RJD had already been constituted, headed by former state Commissioner and retired IAS officer TN Mannen.

He also claimed that a special railway package was being considered by the Railway Minister, as per which, railway lines will be extended to the interior and remote areas of the state for its speedy development.

Meanwhile, the Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) had already announced that their candidates will be fielded in the forthcoming Nagaland Assembly elections.

Speaking to newspersons at Dimapur on January 16, LJP national general secretary Mira Chakraborti had announced the decision of the party to field 20 candidates for the 60-member Assembly. (UNI)

Itanagar: Intra-party rivalry resurfaced in ruling Congress in Arunachal Pradesh with Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu being accused by his predecessor Gegong Apang of taking photographs with Chinese armymen across the border in 2006 without taking permission from the authorities.

Khandu, however, defended his action and said he did "nothing wrong" and the photograph was "not anti-India".

The fluttering flags of both nations below which he was shown standing along with Chinese military officers in the photograph "spoke for itself" and he did not owe any explanation, Khandu said in a statement here.

It said people along with army personnel from both sides cross the border to take part in the national day celebrations of the two countries on August 15 and October 1 (for China) as a goodwill gesture and for improving bilateral relations.

"I went across the border not as a minister but as part of a public delegation. I was given a photo pass by the army. There were 50 armymen there," Khandu said.

The visit along with cultural troupes and other civilians with the permission of the Indian Army had lasted a couple of hours only, he said, adding he had interacted with the Chinese officials across Bumla pass in Tawang district and the snap was taken in 2006 when he was the power minister.

"The issue is being raised because of political rivalry," Khandu said.

Apang, who was the Chief Minister in 2006, said "Khandu neither took prior permission from me nor from the Governor, nor from the External Affairs Ministry for his visit." (PTI)

A huge crowd had gathered at Besimari to see the Chief Minister arrive in a helicopter and repeated plea by the police to move away from the helipad did not yield any result but instead made the people more agitated, official sources said here.

The police then resorted to a mild lathicharge to disperse the crowd and the Chief Minister continued with his election campaign after the situation was brought under control, the sources said.

Panchayat polls in Darrang district would be held on January 24 while elections in the rest of the state was already completed in three phases by January nine. (PTI)

The CPI(M), he said, had urged the election commission not to withdraw the TSR camps as they were provfiding safety and security to the common people from the hands of the insurgents.

"If the camps are withdrawn, people living in the interior and hilly areas will be pushed to danger", he said. The Congress, Das said, had started discussions with the INPT on seat adjustment for the February 23 assembly elections.(PTI)

Guwahati: Though several banks are selling credit and debit cards for the customers for easy travel, the age-old barter system still continues to flourish at Jagiroad, an hour drive from here.

Driving past some 50 odd bill-boards of credit cards on this crowded NH-37, one can reach Jagiroad, where thousands of tribals assemble every third week of January to participate in the Jonbeel Mela for bartering.

''We still value goodwill and encourage the barter systems between participating tribes,'' said the Tiwa king Deepsing Deorajah, a king without a kingdom but commands respect from people in surrounding areas stretching upto Meghalaya and Karbi Anglong.

Despite all kind of gizmos and electronic goods flooding the markets in the area, the tribals love to barter.

Even hundreds of Khasi tribals throng the place from neighbouring Meghalaya with their products to barter with the subjects of the Tiwa King, also known as Gobha Rajah.

''This is an age-old tradition. The Khasis and Jaintias come with ginger, turmeric, wild bee and betel nuts, brooms and several other things to exchange those with dried fish, salt, vegetables and clothes of the local Tiwas,'' said the Chief Executive Member of the Tiwa Autonomous Council Ramakanta Deuri.

The council is a modern form of governance, but during the mela days it allows the traditional king to take over the proceedings.

Braving severe cold, the tribals from Khasi hills this time have come two days in advance and were camping in open area near Jagiroad.

''All the arrangements are done by us,'' the Tiwa king said.

On the first day of the mela, people are allowed to buy anything with money in cash but on the second day money becomes valueless as every product is exchanged with some other.

''The Tiwas are master weavers and their clothes are in great demand. The Khasis do their annual marketing of clothes in this Mela,'' the Tiwa king added.

People even bring their relatives to witness the Jonbeel Mela for three days with extended session of feast, merry making and various indigenous games.

The other attractions of the mela are community fishing, where more than 2000 people participate, and the cock fight.

''This year alone more than 400 cocks took part in the fight drawing hundreds of onlookers,'' a Khasi tribal avered.

Of late, the mela has attracted a number of tourists because of custom and tradition, where money has no value. (UNI)