The collapse of the Vivekananda Road flyover, which left 26 people dead, has turned the focus once again on syndicates and their dangerous shadow on infrastructure projects. Companies building flyovers across Calcutta are forced to comply with the demands of the syndicates run by Trinamul leaders.

While firms with deep pockets have managed to keep the syndicates happy without compromising on the quality of their work, others could not do so. 

Metro runs a scan on some such flyovers

Vivekananda Road flyover 

• Implementing agency: Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA)
• Private contractor: IVRCL 
• Work started: December 2009 
• First deadline: Mid-2011
• Length: 2.2km 
• Place: Between Girish Park and Howrah bridge 
• Original cost: Rs 164 crore 
• Change in project cost: IVRCL had placed demands for a hike. CMDA did not respond.
• Status: Work suspended
• Syndicate shadow: Rajat Baksi, a cousin of Trinamul leader Sanjay Baksi, was one of the sub-contractors. Rajat used to supply workers and materials for the project.

Jinjirabazaar-Batanagar flyover 

• Implementing agency: CMDA
• Work started: Mid-2014
• First deadline: Mid-2016 
• Revised deadline: August 2017
• Length: 7.4km 
• Project cost: The government had pegged the cost at Rs 255 crore while sanctioning the public-private partnership project. Later, the tender was floated at Rs 329 crore following a price escalation. The private partner (a joint venture of the Hiland Group and L&T) will bear the additional cost.
• Place: Along Budge Budge Trunk Road
• Status: Only 20 per cent work has been completed. Piling and pier construction on a 6km-stretch is under way. CMDA is yet to hand over to the private partner a patch of land belonging to the port trust.
• Syndicate shadow: Several local Trinamul leaders are allegedly supplying materials and men for the project. The builders have to pay nearly 50 per cent more than the market price to buy sand and stone chips from the syndicates backed by the ruling party.

Garden Reach flyover 

• Implementing agency: CMDA
• Private contractor: L&T
• Work started: The contract was awarded in March 2014 but work could only start in September 2014 after land was made available.
• First Deadline: September 2015
• Revised deadline: December 2016. This may be missed, too, because a kilometre-long stretch is still unavailable.
• Length: 4.32km 
• Original project cost: Rs 313.27 crore. (There is a possibility of a 10 per cent hike)
• Place: Between the Ramnagar crossing in Garden Reach and Diamond Harbour Road. Two arms will descend on Diamond Harbour Road — one near the Taratala mint and the other towards Mominpur. 
• Status: Sixty per cent of the work is over.
• Syndicate shadow: Shams Iqbal, son of former Trinamul councillor Munna, who has been charged in the murder of a policeman outside a Garden Reach college, is allegedly running the show here. He allegedly supplies stone chips and sand at a price higher than the market rate. Metro called Shams twice but he did not answer.

Kamalgazi flyover 

• Implementing agency: CMDA 
• Private contractor: L&T
• Work started: November 2012
• First deadline: May 2014
• Flyover ready: Since August 2015
• Length: 1.164km
• Original project cost: Rs 84 crore
• Escalation: Nil
• Place: Over the Kamalgazi crossing
• Status: Open to traffic. The flyover was unveiled in February 2016 because an approach road was not ready.
• Syndicate shadow: Nazrul Ali Mondal, Trinamul councillor of Rajpur-Sonarpur Municipality and husband of party MLA Firdousi Begum, allegedly called the shots in the supply of materials. Here, too, the builders had to pay more than the market price. Nazrul Ali Mondal, however,  said: “Some stupid, idiot people do such things. If you can find my involvement with any syndicate, you write anything against me. These are completely baseless allegations.”

Parama-Park Circus flyover

• Implementing agency: CMDA 
• Private contractor: HCC and L&T (only for the 700m stretch)
• Work started: February 2010 
• First deadline: August 2012
• Length: 8.14km
• Place: Between the Park Circus crossing and the Bypass. The starting/ending points on the Bypass are PC Chandra Gardens in the south and Silver Spring in the north.
• Original project cost: Rs 317.92 crore
• Revised cost: Rs 574.92 crore (excluding a 700m-stretch above the No. 4 bridge)
• Status: The stretch from the Bypass till the Park Circus crossing is open to traffic. An arm that will take vehicles from the AJC Bose Road flyover to the Parama flyover is supposed to be ready soon.
• Syndicate shadow: About five years back, two syndicates had fought over the supply of materials. Both lodged complaints against each other. Interference has reduced since.

VIP Road flyover 

• Implementing agency: Public works department 
• Private contractors: L&T
• Work started: April 2012 
• First deadline: October 2013
• Length: 2.218 km  
• Place: Between Kestopur and Raghunathpur on VIP Road 
• Original project cost: Rs 214 crore 
• Final project cost: Rs 313.35 crore
• Status: Open to traffic  
• Syndicate shadow: This project was a surprise exclusion from the pressures of syndicates. A source involved in the project said they used to joke that the three Boses were confused over who would interfere and none interfered in the end. The three are Purnendu Bose (MLA of Rajarhat-Gopalpur), Bratya Basu (MLA of Dum Dum) and Sujit Bose (MLA of Bidhannagar)