Calcutta, Feb. 16: Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee today challenged CPM legislator Sujan Chakraborty to repair the microphones damaged during the February 8 House ruckus for Rs 12,000 after the Left leader alleged that the damages pegged by government engineers at Rs 12.4 lakh were inflated.

Chakraborty claimed that the 10 damaged mics could be repaired for Rs 12,000. The Rs 12.4-lakh estimate prepared by the PWD engineers has been described as "preliminary assessment" by the Speaker. A final report on the damages is likely to be submitted tomorrow.

"As you said, I challenge you to take up the repair of the 10 microphones for Rs 12,000 with your own team of electricians within two days. I promise to pay your bill from the government exchequer," the Speaker said.

At a news conference later, Chakraborty sought a written order from the Speaker, saying he could not ask his electrician to enter the House without a proper permit.

"But I don't know how to prove that the damaged microphones can be repaired for Rs 12,000. The mics have already been repaired, we spoke on them today," the CPM leader said.

Assembly secretary Jayanta Koley is scheduled to hold a meeting with eight MLAs from both the Treasury and Opposition benches tomorrow and draw up the final report on the damages.

A day after the incident, sources in the Assembly staff and in the Trinamul legislature party had said that the damages could not have been worth more than Rs 10 as the scuffle over the suspension of leader of the Opposition Abdul Mannan had left just a wooden bench bent and a few unplugged microphones.

The Congress and Left legislators today demanded an independent assessment by a sitting judge of Calcutta High Court.

A PWD official said the eight microphone consoles and the 10 mics allegedly damaged during the ruckus have to be replaced as they cannot be repaired.

"These are top-of-the-line conference systems by Bosch from the Praesideo range. Over 300 of them had been installed in the Assembly in 2008 at over Rs 40,000 a piece. Their price has gone up by over three times, so they are around Rs 1.2 lakh each," the PWD official said.

The official added that the cost would include installation, programming and software charges for each unit.

A senior acoustic engineer employed with a global audio design and equipment manufacturing major said the assessment seemed "harsh" but was not out of question.

"If they do need to be replaced, around 10 of them could cost over Rs 12 lakh. But do they really need to be replaced? Were all of them damaged beyond repair in the scuffle? These are questions I cannot answer," he said.