Sahityika AdminBy Jayanti Bandyopadhyay (Daughter),
& Edited by Arun Deb, 1957 Civil Engineering
Dr. Chiranjib Kumar Sarkar, a beloved professor of Civil Engineering in the 1950s and 60s who nurtured lifelong relationships with his colleagues and students, then an esteemed professional for 40 years at several leading engineering consulting companies in the United States, breathed his last on August 6, 2022. He passed peacefully at his residence at the Udita Bengal Ambuja complex in Survey Park surrounded by his loving family. He is survived by his wife of 70 years Mrs. Bijoya Sarkar; three children Jayanti, Jayasri and Ranajit; three grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.
Dr. Sarkar was born in Barishal, now Bangladesh on 1st October 1930. At a young age, he moved with his parents to Rajshahi. He completed his Intermediate Science at Rajshahi College in 1947 and subsequently enrolled at Bengal Engineering College in Shibpur, West Bengal. There he completed his undergraduate studies in Civil Engineering with distinction and high honors in 1951.
From 1951 to 1956, Dr. Sarkar worked with the Irrigation Department of Public Works of the Government of West Bengal and then with the prestigious Indian Railway Service. In 1956, he joined BE College at the University of Calcutta as a Lecturer in the Civil Engineering Department where he would sustain his impact until 1970. In 1959, Dr. Sarkar undertook the adventure of traveling to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for a Master’s in Civil Engineering (1960), specializing in Hydraulics. He completed his Ph.D. in Hydraulics Engineering at B.E. College in 1970 and rose to the rank of Associate Professor.
Professor Sarkar taught undergraduate and graduate students and did research on specialized subjects such as hydrology, hydraulics, and water resource engineering including irrigation and flood control, and design and analysis of dams and structures. He taught over a thousand engineering students who established themselves in successful and distinguished careers across the world. His pupils fondly remember him with respect for his vast deep knowledge and integrity.
In 1971, Dr. Sarkar moved to the United States to work with several reputed engineering consulting firms for 36 years. His areas of expertise comprised technical aspects of floods, hydroelectric power generation, hydraulic structures, and water resource management, mostly in the USA as well as a few other countries.
Dr. Sarkar totaled 56 years of rich experience in diverse fields of hydrology, hydraulics, and water resources engineering. His experience included 43 years in mathematical modeling and computer applications in these areas. He was the author of several large complex computer programs including the recently developed HYDROPRO model for maximizing hydroelectric power generation through optimizing reservoir operations. In addition, he had extensive knowledge of the application and use of several computer programs in the public domain.
He was a registered professional engineer in the states of Florida and Maryland, a fellow and life member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Boston Society of Civil Engineers, and a member of several other professional organizations. Dr. Sarkar authored several technical papers published in international journals and conference proceedings.
He moved back to their beloved motherland in 2011, after residing in the United States for over 40 years.
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Arun Deb, B.E. College (Civil), 1957 adds
“I knew Professor Chiranjib Sarkar since 1956, the year of the centenary of B. E. College (BEC). At that time, he was a young teacher and was in-charge of the Centenary Celebration Exhibition and we were the final year students worked with him tirelessly. I also joined B.E. College faculty in 1958 and worked together. Later, Professor Sarkar left B.E. College in 1971 for USA and worked there for several consulting engineering companies at very high positions. He was a specialist on hydraulics of dams and hydro energy production. He analyzed and designed many such projects all over the world.
I never found a person as honest as Professor Sarkar. In his earlier professional life, he joined lucrative Indian Railways Service and couldn’t compromise his honesty and resigned his job within 6 months without knowing where he and his family are going spend the night. He came to B. E. College leaving his family at the Howrah Station. Principal A. C. Roy immediately gave him a faculty position and scolded him for leaving his family at the Howrah Station.
He was instrumental in guiding my career also. I am grateful to him.
Chiranjibda and myself were very close, although he graduated in civil engineering in 1951 and I graduated in 1956 in electrical engineering.. He was very religious, devoted and soft-spoken person. I have never met a person like this in my whole life. Both of us left India in 1971 to escape the Naxal-CPM turmoil in BE College. I came to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in NY and he joined a private civil engineering company in Lovell, Massachusetts. Once I went to visit him in his home in Mass. We were in correspondence all the time. I met him again ( also Arun Deb (1957)) in BE College Convocation in 2013, where I went for my D.Sc. degree. I was residing in Gol Park Ram Krishna Mission Guest House. He came there with Mrs. Sarker to meet me with a large box of sandesh. It was a big surprise to me. I pray to God to keep his Soul in peace. He was truly an outstanding person.