Calcutta, April 1: When pictures of the Assembly mayhem were flashing on TV screens four months ago, a defiant Mamata Banerjee had said her party was ready to beg on the streets to compensate the government.

Today, a meeting of Trin-amul Congress MLAs, who had vandalised the House on November 30, begged to differ.

The lawmakers have decided they would neither apologise nor pay the damages when Speaker Hashim Abdul Halim decides on the action against them tomorrow, leader of the Opposition Partha Chatterjee said.

Asked about it, Mamata said it was her MLAs’ discretion. “Our legislative party will take a decision on the matter.”

Assembly sources said a public works department report, handed to the Speaker, has estimated the compensation to be demanded at a little over Rs 4 lakh.

All the 29 Trinamul members present in the Assembly had joined the rampage, smashing tables and benches, uprooting and twisting microphones, and leaving the floor covered with shards of glass.

The reason for their anger was that police had stopped Mamata from entering Singur — the site of Tata Motors’ upcoming small-car plant — which had been put under Section 144.

The government threw the Assembly doors open for the public to come and see the devastation.

It took some 60 labourers, working dawn to dusk, over three months to bring the House back to shape for the budget session, which started on March 8.

PWD officials had initially suggested the repairs would cost around Rs 15 lakh. Asked how the final figure could be so much lower, an Assembly official said the earlier sum was just an “initial estimate”.

Other sources said the PWD had not taken into account the antique value of the damaged furniture, some of which dated back to 1938.

Since December, the 29 Trinamul MLAs have had to forgo their salaries and allowances under orders from the Speaker. Tarak Banerjee, the lone Trinamul member absent from the House on November 30, has been exempted from the punishment.