The replacement of foul-fumed vehicles is far from complete through the high court ban on them came into force six months ago. Sources said it would take another three to six months for the city to get rid of the entire foul fleet.

According to government data, a total of 6,355 taxis, 3,067 buses (including 510 minibuses) and around 30,000 legal autos were to be off the road from August 1 last year when the ban came into effect in compliance with a high court order issued in July 2008.

Experts said the replacement process should have started immediately after the verdict and been over by August 2009.

“The process has taken much longer than it should have. The government and the operators both are to be blamed,” said environment activist Subhash Dutta.

“The clock started ticking after the July 2008 verdict. It has been 18 months since the court announced the ban.”

The government had received applications for replacement of around 5,200 taxis, 950 buses and 24,000 autos. As of now, only 3,000 taxis, 300 buses and 14,000 autos have been replaced.

But why is the number of applications less than the number of vehicles? Swarnakamal Saha, a Trinamul Congress MLA and key leader of the transporters, said: “Whoever wanted to apply has already applied. Transport business has not been as lucrative as was since the ban came into effect. Several transporters have shifted to other modes of livelihood.”

Operators blamed the government for the delay in replacement.

“The government has been sitting on the majority of applications and has not exerted enough pressure on the manufacturers for supplying new vehicles,” said Tarak Nath Bari, the secretary of the Calcutta Taxi Association.

Saha said: “If the government had taken timely action, the process would have been over last year.”

Transport department officials, however, put the onus on the operators.

“The operators knew from July 2008 what had to be done. Yet, till September last year, they did not act hoping the Supreme Court would stay the ban,” an official said. “Applications started coming only from October 2009 and the time taken since then was expected,” he told Metro.

Officials said that at the present rate, it would take at least another three months for the remaining buses and taxis to get replaced and another six months for the replacement of the autos.

“It looks like the whole process will be completed around July. By then, it will have been two years (since the high court order). If the operators had co-operated, it should not have taken more than nine months to a year,” said a transport department official.