TOI tracked down the firm — Equtep Engineers and Associates Pvt Ltd — which has neither a website nor even a telephone number. According to information available from the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA), Equtep’s managing director is Bidyut Kumar Gautam and one Partha Pratim Bhakta is the director. Documents accessed by TOI from Jadavpur University (JU) reveal that one of the institution’s renowned professors — celebrated structural engineer Dipankar Chakravorty — was the design consultant of the flyover.
On Friday evening, TOI went to Equtep’s registered address at 8H, Chandra Mandal Lane — a nondescript alley leading off from Mudiali in south Kolkata. There was no signboard on the premises and the ground floor of the building was padlocked.
The company was incorporated on January 12, 2006, and registered with the Registrar of Companies, Kolkata. It has an authorised share capital of Rs 500,000 and paid-up capital of Rs 100,000.
A self-study report submitted by JU to the National Assessment & Accreditation Council (NAAC) in January 2014 and Prof Chakravorty’s own profile mentions his association as a consultant for the flyover. “I refuse to comment on this issue,” Chakravorty told TOI when contacted over telephone on Friday. One of the best known professors of JU’s civil engineering department, he had also investigated the Ultadanga flyover collapse of March 3, 2013.
At the Equtep office, the only indication of the firm is an ‘8H’ embossed on a marble plaque on the unpainted, weather-beaten building, and a faded handwritten note on the letterbox ‘Equtep’. “Have you come here regarding the Vivekananda Road flyover matter? The company has taken the ground floor on lease. The office doesn’t open regularly. There aren’t too many employees either. We have seen only 2-3 persons at a time,” a neighbour said.
Another neighbour said that a “non-Bengali bhadralok” had inquired about the firm soon after the flyover collapse. “We thought the company was involved in excavating soil at construction sites. The door remains padlocked on most days. Even when the office opens for a few hours, those inside maintain a low profile. We have heard that Bidyut Kumar Gautam (the MD) is from north Bengal,” she said.
Some neighbours said Gautam had a flat nearby, at 48 Chandra Mandal Lane. When TOI went there, the security guard wasn’t sure if Gautam was in and went to check. He returned a while later and said: “The door is locked from the outside.” He said he didn’t have Gautam’s contact number. On Saturday morning, TOI wrote an e-mail to Gautam on an ID he had provided to the registrar of companies. There was no response till the time of going to press.