Behrampore, July 31: The government has squandered Rs 3 lakh on re-painting a new office of the agriculture directorate in Murshidabad blue and white as employees had refused to move in unless chief minister Mamata Banerjee's favourite colour scheme was used.
The building in Kandi was painted yellow and brown in December but the Trinamul-backed State Government Employees' Federation demanded that the colour scheme be changed.
The government had sanctioned Rs 72 lakh for the construction of the building. The building, however, came up for Rs 49 lakh. "However, the cost went up to Rs 52 lakh because of the additional expenditure of Rs 3 lakh that was incurred for the fresh coat of blue and white paint," an agriculture directorate official said.
Although district officials remained tight-lipped about the additional expenditure incurred, Kalyan Banerjee, an employee of the agriculture office and an executive member of the State Government Employees' Federation, said: "It was a conspiracy by a section of officials of the agricultural directorate in Murshidabad to paint the building yellow and brown. Had the building been painted blue and white in the first place, such a problem would not have arisen. The officials of the directorate cannot avoid their responsibilities."
The Telegraph had carried a report on April 3 on the federation's pressure on officials to have the building repainted. Kalyan Banerjee had told this newspaper then: "Blue and white is the favourite colour combination of our chief minister. Even Nabanna is painted in blue and white. Many other government offices are also being painted blue and white."
"Until the new building of the agriculture office is painted blue and white, we will not shift there. We will also not allow any inauguration," Kalyan Banerjee had added.
The employees' federation had submitted a memorandum on the demand to the district agriculture.
Asked why the new building had to be repainted blue and white, district agriculture officer D.K. Pal, refused to comment. The assistant director of agriculture (administration), who is in charge of Kandi subdivision, also refused to reply to any question on the issue.
An officer of the agriculture directorate in Kandi said, requesting anonymity: "We were under pressure to repaint the building. The Trinamul-controlled employees' organisation had threatened that they would not allow the building to be inaugurated till it was painted blue and white. So we were forced to repaint the building."
The district magistrate of Murshidabad, Y. Ratnakara Rao, conceded there was no "colour code" for government buildings.
"If all government buildings are painted in the same colour scheme, they will have a common identity. That is why all government buildings are being painted blue and white," the DM said.
A senior Nabanna official said there was no government order that made painting of government buildings blue and white mandatory.
The building in Kandi cannot be inaugurated now because the clearance is yet to arrive from the agriculture department.
A district official said: "We are trying to have the building inaugurated by the chief minister. We will announce the inauguration date when the chief minister gives us time." The employees of the Kandi agriculture directorate office are working from a godown for the past three years.
