Calcutta’s clean-air crusade has run into trouble not only for want of political initiative but also because the loan and subsidy package for owners of two-stroke autos cannot rival the katatel economy.

Unlike in Delhi, where auto operators financially benefited from conversion to four-stroke engines that run on CNG, owners of most of the 67,000 registered and unregistered two-stroke autos in the city feel they stand to lose by converting to LPG.

“The cost of automobile LPG is Rs 28.30 a litre and the price of katatel is also around that much. But a four-stroke auto running on LPG cannot be overloaded with passengers like a two-stroke one,” said emission expert S.M. Ghosh.

The Bengal government had offered owners of two-stroke autos Rs 10,000 as subsidy to replace their polluting vehicles with four-stroke LPG engines. The old vehicles, irrespective of condition and age, will fetch Rs 6,000 as “replacement value”. Bajaj Auto Ltd, the largest manufacturer of autos, will give a discount of Rs 5,000 for each purchase.

Every auto owner must make a down payment of Rs 10,000 or more. The remaining Rs 95,000 — each four-stroke LPG auto costs Rs 1,26,000, including registration, road tax and insurance — will come as a loan at the “existing rate of interest” for a maximum period of five years.

“Our union has accepted the package but we don’t want to be saddled with a loan for no additional gain,” said an auto owner affiliated to Citu said.

Another grey area is what auto operators who are still paying EMIs for loans taken to buy two-stroke autos will do about their existing debt. “Many of us had purchased two-stroke LPG autos just before the court banned all two-stroke engines. Who will repay the loans we took?” said Pradip Saha, a leader of the Trinamul-backed auto operators’ union.

So, how did Delhi manage to do what Calcutta seems unable to do? Here’s how:

SOFT LOAN & TOUGH TALK

Satish Kumar, 55, hit the streets with a vengeance the day the Supreme Court order to switch to CNG took effect in Delhi in 1998. “I even threw stones at officials,” he recalled, steering his four-stroke auto from Pandara Road towards India Gate. “But once we realised that we would gain more than we would lose, the transition wasn’t difficult.”

Under pressure from the apex court, the Sheila Dixit government made it clear to the auto operators that neither protests nor political pressure — like in Calcutta, the Opposition had sided with the two-stroke brigade — would stop it from implementing the order.

It offered every auto owner an “easy loan” with a repayment term of 10 years to purchase a CNG three-wheeler.

The government also promised not to revise the fare structure despite CNG being cheaper than petrol and diesel. The two-stroke strategy worked. The unions fell in line, auto operators who bought new three-wheelers started earning more and the Delhi air became cleaner.

“The government’s practical approach was the reason why auto owners did not oppose the switch,” said Anumita Roychowdury, the associate director of the Centre for Science and Environment.

There was serious trouble when the CNG outlets were few and far between but once that was sorted out, it was a smooth ride.

Calcutta now has only 12 LPG outlets; they too are grossly underutilised.