The meeting, which started around 4 p.m., continued for more than two-and-half hours, and was also attended by some representative of the Gujarat Electricity Board.

Though both Municipal Commissioner G R Aloria and General Manager, DoT, Vadodara division, Rakesh Babu refused to divulge the exact outcome of the meeting, saying that a joint press release would be issued on Wednesday, official sources said that contrary to apprehensions, the meeting was conducted in a cordial atmosphere and there were no confrontations.

Sources said it was with this intention that the telecom officials dropped the compensation claim for damaged cables from their agenda minutes before the meeting was to start. Babu confirmed that the point had been dropped as it would have resulted in acrimony at the meeting.

Officials said that the two departments decided that proper coordination was necessary to clear the mess and agreed that officials should not rush to the press with their grouses.

Babu said junior-level officials, too, would interact frequently and exchange plans. ``This way the cables will be spared damage. Besides, we will start work on restoring the damaged cables in consultation with the VMC, and hope to get some assistance in this regard'', a telecom official present at the meeting said.

The VMC officials, on their part, assured the telecom department that it would take adequate care during road-widening projects if they were provided list of the areas where the cables have been dug in violations of the norms. ``On the basis of such a list, we can be careful while digging'', a VMC official said.

Both Aloria and Babu expressed hope that no misunderstandings would crop up and future projects would be completed smoothly. This statement could give some hope to subscribers whose telephone lines frequently went dead.