The state government is taking us for a ride. In polluting autorickshaws at that, as no agency in the state is authorised to carry out conversion of in-use vehicles to LPG.

On July 18, Calcutta High Court had given the government two broad tasks — phase out all two-stroke autos by December 31, 2008, and convert all four-stroke autos to LPG/CNG within the Calcutta Municipal Corporation area by March 31, 2009.

With 96 days to go for the second deadline, there is no move to convert four-stroke autos to LPG.

If an auto-owner today wants to convert his vehicle from petrol to LPG, he legally cannot. No agency in the state is at the moment empowered to carry out the conversion, as the mandatory state approval is pending.

The transport department has been sitting on applications from around 14 LPG kit manufacturers for authorisation to convert in-use vehicles. These agencies have the requisite central approval, but not the state authorisation.

“We have been repeatedly requesting the transport department to give the necessary approval. Any LPG conversion for in-use vehicles today is illegal,” said Sharad Jhawar, an auto LPG fitter.

“The transport department is stalling the conversion of autos to LPG, even as it issues public notifications and floats tenders for conversion,” said a member of an LPG fitters forum that had written to the transport secretary in April, seeking authorisation.

Ranjit Maity, the joint secretary in the transport department, refused to comment on the “controversy” but stated that they were working on a plan to make “LPG kits available to autos” within the deadline at a reasonable price.

With just 12 LPG filling stations in the city — most sitting idle — and no authorisation for conversion, things look as smoky as ever.

“Since 2004, six notifications have been issued and four tenders floated for LPG conversion of autos but nothing has happened,” said emission expert S.M. Ghosh.

“The environment department had passed on Rs 2 crore to the transport department about a year back to facilitate conversion of autos to LPG but the money is yet to be utilised,” alleged green activist Subhas Dutta, blaming the transport department for buckling under pressure from auto unions.