Calcutta, Dec. 31: Transport minister Subhas Chakraborty today pulled out yet another plan from his hat to dodge the deadline to ban two-stroke autos from the streets of Calcutta.

A high court order bans them from January 1.

Although Chakraborty said the government would implement the July 18 order, he promised an escape route to over 67,000 two-stroke autos in the city. “The police will not crack down on auto owners who want to replace their two-stroke autos with four-stroke ones. If drivers can produce any receipt of the application to the public vehicles department, regional transport authorities or auto manufacturers, they can ply their vehicles,” he told a gathering of over 100 auto operators at Salt Lake Stadium.

If auto operators can produce a paper to prove that they have challenged the ban in court, the police will not impound their vehicles, he added.

The green brigade reacted strongly. “The court had made it clear that two-stroke autos will be banned from January 1. They (the transport department) are trying to work out a way to bypass the ban,” said petitioner Subhash Dutta.

Chakraborty iterated that the government would implement the court order. But with a battery of union leaders of all colours — Trinamul Congress, Congress, SUCI and the fledgling Pragatishil Indira Congress — he also worked out a beat-the-ban plan at a 90-minute meeting in the stadium’s conference room.

“There are practical problems in implementing the ban. First, auto manufacturers cannot supply so many four-stroke autos in such a short span and, then, there is also the problem of getting fuel for LPG autos. There are only 14 filling stations in the city,” argued Chakraborty.

Trinamul’s Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, the face of the Auto Bachao Committee, echoed the CPM minister and said the ban should be implemented after giving “adequate time and support to the auto operators”.

Estimates suggest the city has over 37,000 registered two-stroke autos and around 30,000 that ply without papers.

“The police will crack down on autos that do not have valid papers. They will also take action against two-stroke autos whose owners have not applied for change,” said Chakraborty.

According to him, around 14,000 auto operators have already filed their applications.

As auto operators pondered the fate of the remaining 53,000, Citu leaders came up with another solution. “We are telling all two-stroke auto operators to file applications for change to four-stroke autos. We will help them get the receipts, which will protect them,” said a senior Citu leader, who was at the conference room for the brainstorming.

“This will give us time till the appeal against the July 18 order comes up for hearing in the high court on January 10.”

Chakraborty’s plan gave the public vehicles department (PVD) and the police scope to drag their feet. “We will talk to PVD officials on whether autos with applications can be allowed to ply. After all, tomorrow is the first day and things can be worked out,” said police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti.

Transport secretary Sumantra Chowdhury said the department had done its bit to follow the court order. “We have deregistered two-stroke autos and issued a notification banning them. Now, the ban will have to be implemented.”