Truce hint in dam colour clash

Snehamoy Chakraborty, TT, Aug 05, 2018, Suri: Jharkhand on Saturday suggested that the Mamata Banerjee government select a colour for the Massanjore Dam "that will not create tension", a Bengal official said.

Suspected BJP workers had stopped painting of the dam in Mamata's preferred blue and white. The dam on the Mayurakshi river is located at Dumka in party-ruled Jharkhand but maintained by Bengal.

"The Jharkhand administration said any kind of tension should be avoided in the area and they want us to paint the dam in any other colour," Kingshuk Mondal, the Bengal official in charge of the dam, said after a meeting with Dumka DM Mukesh Kumar.

The meeting followed talks Moumita Godara Basu, the DM of adjoining Birbhum in Bengal, held over the issue with Kumar. According to sources, the Jharkhand authorities said any tension might affect the dam's functioning at a time both states depend on it for irrigation.

Sources said Kumar had expressed readiness to accept blue and white if the Bengal officials showed a written order. "But there is no written order," said an official in Birbhum. Kumar couldn't be contacted for comment. Sources at Nabanna hinted at a "liberal" step. "The government will not ask for anything that creates tension between the two states," said an official.