Eight days for 35,000 three-wheelers. That is the phaseout equation the state government is staring at in the slog overs.

If the required rate seems rather steep, the government has only itself to blame. On July 18, a division bench of Calcutta High Court headed by Chief Justice S.S. Nijjar had ordered that all two-stroke autorickshaws in Calcutta were to be scrapped by December 31, 2008.

The two-stroke autos have older engines with poor combustion efficiency, making them the prime emission culprits. Also, most two-stroke autos run on adulterated oil, popularly known as katatel, a killer cocktail of petrol, kerosene and other toxic fuels.

From July 18 to December 22 — when a high court bench ruled out the extension of the December 31 deadline — the government has done nothing to implement the court order.

The July order had stated that two-stroke autos be phased out and all unauthorised autos be seized. There are as many registered autos in the city as there are unregistered ones, and most of them two-stroke. That would take the tally of two-stroke autos to around 70,000. The police had also been directed to clamp down on the sale of katatel.

According to sources, the state police had seized only 37 unauthorised autorickshaws till October. As for katatel, less than 700 litres were seized.

Calcutta police have not submitted a report to the state vehicular pollution monitoring committee, but sources in Lalbazar said around 600 autos have been seized, some in joint raids with the public vehicles department, for not possessing valid papers.

“These figures are ridiculous. There must be at least 30,000 illegal autos plying on the streets and more than 200,000 litres of adulterated fuel being sold every day,” said emission expert S.M. Ghosh.

“The performance of the controlling government authorities following the high court order in July shows why the people of Calcutta are in a perennial death trap,” added environmentalist and petitioner Subhas Dutta.

With time ticking away, officials at Writers’ Buildings and Lalbazar talked tough about meeting the court deadline but they were clueless about the means to the end.

Just how clueless was clear from transport minister Subhas Chakraborty’s statement on Wednesday. “There is a high court order about conversion of autos to LPG by December 31, and the government will have to carry it out with its limited powers. The auto owners got ample time to get their three-wheeler engines converted to LPG. What can the government do if people become jobless?”

Someone in his department should take the trouble of decoding the high court order for the minister — the first deadline for LPG/CNG conversion of autos is March 31, 2009; the December 31, 2008 deadline pertains to all two-stroke autos, whether plying on clean fuel, petrol or katatel.

“There are just a few days left and we are going to do whatever is required to implement the court directive,” said Vineet Goyal, the deputy commissioner of police, headquarters.

Officials in the traffic police department, however, revealed the confusion in the ranks. “How can we crack down on two-stroke autos without a list from the PVD?” said one. “Will the offence be bailable, will the auto be confiscated?” wondered another.

The methodology of the crackdown might become clearer after a meeting chaired by chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb on Friday. “The high court-appointed committee will meet to finalise the strategy. We will then submit a report to the high court,” said environment secretary M.L. Meena.

By then, the phaseout equation will read five days for 35,000 (authorised) autos.