The city’s autorickshaw brigade. A Telegraph picture

The transport department’s move to encourage autorickshaws to switch to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by doling out a subsidy to the owners will hardly be successful, feels the green lobby.

“This is not the right way to improve the city’s air quality,” said environment activist Subhas Dutta.

“The subsidy will be of no help, as the government has not made the conversion mandatory. Besides, since only 5,000 autos will be given the subsidy a year, there will be enough polluting three-wheelers in the city,” added Dutta, who will raise the matter in the high court.

The mission expert, S.M. Ghosh, agreed. “The total conversion cost is Rs 16,000, but the government is providing a subsidy of only Rs 4,000. In the absence of an order making the switch compulsory, do you think any owner will feel encouraged to shell out Rs 12,000 for the sake of the environment?” he asked.

The principal secretary in the transport department, Sumantra Chowdhury, had announced on June 28 that the conversion drive would initially focus on the 40,000-odd autos that were manufactured before 2000. Of these, 5,000 vehicles would be given the subsidy every year on a “first-come-first-served” basis.

The announcement followed a meeting with LPG kit makers from across the country.

The environment department will provide the subsidy — Rs 2 crore — but it has been kept out of the process.

“We do not have any idea how the transport department is going about the issue,” said an environment department official. “They should have made the conversion mandatory — even if in a phased manner — and borne part of the subsidy.”

Sovondeb Chattopadhyay, who leads the auto union of Trinamul Congress, feels the government’s move will draw a blank unless the subsidy is hiked. “The transport department should have followed the example of Delhi, where all commercial vehicles were forced to go through the shift.”

He also pointed out that the government should have first brought under the scanner the 20,000-odd autos that are plying without being registered with the regional transport authority or the public vehicles department.

Citu leader Kishore Ghosh said his organisation would press for the conversion, “though the illegal autos are beyond our control”.

Transport department officials, however, claim that most autos, illegal or illegal, enjoy the union’s patronage.