Calcutta, July 17 :     On July 10, students of Wintech Computers' mega centre at Gol Park turned up for classes to see the pearly gates to the halting station en route to Silicon Valley shut. The 120 students of the centre, the biggest in Calcutta, had paid a part of the course charges, ranging from Rs 29,700 to Rs 77,300, as enrolment fees to buy a passport to a future coloured by stories of 25-year-olds turning millionaires. The notice at the gate brought them down to earth. Utpal Shekhar Mondal, a student of the mega centre, said: 'Five days after the closure, some Wintech officials informed us that we have been transferred to the Jadavpur centre, where classes are expected to start from July 20. We are really confused and the future seems quite uncertain.' At the heart of the problem lies a dispute over money between the franchisees of the centre, Ramesh Agarwal and Vipin Chouhan, and Mumbai-based Wintech. The franchisees closed down, saying that even after paying Rs 2.5 lakh - Rs 1.5 lakh as franchisee fee and Rs 1 lakh as launch money - Wintech had not signed a formal agreement with them. Wintech, which runs 14 centres in Calcutta and nearly 200 across the country and even abroad, argues that the franchisee has not paid the full fee. It put the dues at Rs 18.5 lakh. Agarwal and Chouhan respond to this by saying: 'We have invested more than Rs 50 lakh in the centre, but the company hasn't sent us the formal agreement.' The 4,500-sq-ft mega centre spread over three floors was inaugurated on April 14 by the vice-chancellor of Jadavpur University. The franchisees are refusing to part with any more money unless they have the franchisee agreement in hand. Wintech claims to have sent the agreement, but the franchisees say they haven't received it. Wintech president (operations) Mohib Patel, speaking to The Telegraph from Qatar, said: 'The fresh agreement is lying with them (franchisees), but they haven't signed it.' A crisis management team of Wintech flew into Calcutta on Monday morning hoping to defuse the crisis. 'As our primary concern is the future of the students, we have transferred all of the 120 enrolled at the mega centre to our Jadavpur centre,' said Manmath Katare, a member of the team. In the war of words, both sides claim they are upholding the students' interests. 'The unilateral decision by the franchisees to close down the centre is clearly against the students' interest. As the franchisees also owe some responsibility to the students, we feel the decision was a hasty one,' Katare added. Agarwal returns the compliment: 'They have collected lakhs of rupees from the students, but haven't released our dues. How can we run the centre when we are not paid our dues and don't have the agreement?' Under the arrangement between the two sides, Wintech is supposed to pay a minimum fixed amount every month to the franchisees. The courses are structured by Wintech and the course material is also provided by it. Similar complaints are coming in from other centres. A student of the Camac Street centre of Wintech said on condition of anonymity: 'We had our last class on June 27 and classes are suspended after that due to non-availability of software.' The student, who paid Rs 19,500 for the course, said: 'I am not satisfied with the course content and I don't read their course material as it is sub- standard.' Wintech's Katare, network manager of the western region, admitted the existence of problems in some centres in Calcutta, but held the franchisees primarily responsible. 'We are here to observe the things and report to the corporate office in Mumbai. We will surely work out a strategy in consultation with the franchisees to bring an end to the present impasse.' Going by experience, the franchisees did not appear too optimistic about a resolution satisfactory to both sides. Chouhan said: 'All the franchisees in Calcutta and the suburbs met the Wintech top brass (from Mumbai) in May and briefed them about student grievances and our problems.' Franchisees - not of the mega centre - admit that at the time the company paid a part of their dues, but operational problems were not addressed. 'We were in touch with the zonal office but didn't get any help from them,' said Agarwal. The zonal office does not have the authority to act on its own. A former Wintech manager said: 'While developing the franchisee network, we made commitments on the basis of instructions from the corporate office in Mumbai. But once the franchisees were not paid their dues and other problems started mounting, they put pressure on us to get it settled with the Mumbai office. Everything in Wintech is centrally operated from Mumbai.' The acrimony between the two sides has led to both firing letters to the Prime Minister and the chief minister downwards to the ward councillor of the Gol Park area.