The Left government state's initiative to seize autorickshaws from the New Year's day onward following the July 18 order of the court to ban the vehicles from January one this year was met with violent resistance in some parts of Kolkata.

Four buses were burnt and several others damaged by the rampaging drivers and owners of the autorickshaws in two days as Trinamool Congress (TC) supremo Mamata Banerjee took up cudgels for them and sat on a night-long dharna near Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's residence.

Auto drivers and owners, who had plied in the city streets under the banner of CPI(M)'s trade union wing CITU, switched allegiance to Trinamool Congress and instead of red flags, the three-wheelers were seen sporting TC's 'tri-colour'.

Alarmed at this, the state government stopped its drive to seize illegal autos and decided to seek at least three months' time to implement the court order.

All two-stroke autos were to be scrapped from the metropolis, which has the highest incidence of chest and lung diseases among citizens, and replaced by four-stroke LPG-run three-wheelers in the nearly five and a half months of time that the court gave the government to implement its order.

So far, the Kolkata Police have seized only about 50 of the 40,000 autos running illegally in Kolkata. Environment activist Subhas Dutta, who had petitioned the court on automobile pollution in the city, said, "If the government could not do it in nearly six months, how can it do the same in another three months?"

He pointed out that it was not the court which framed the guidelines, but the government's environment department which placed a notification before it specifying December 31 for scrapping of two-stroke autorickshaws.

"The division Bench presided by Chief Justice S S Nijjar had incorporated it in its order and had formed a committee to oversee implementation and report to the court," said Dutta.

As the government had framed the guidelines, it should have known whether it could implement the order by the time set by itself, he said.

"I will move the court on Friday seeking to know what the government has done since July to meet the deadline fixed by it only," he said.

A large number of autorickshaws plying from suburbs to the city run on adulterated oil, known as 'kata tel', which causes air pollution.

The 'kata tel' is a toxic mixture of petrol, naptha and kerosene and is sold at many three-wheeler stands with the police and the excise department doing almost nothing to curb the illegal business.

With political backing, autorickshaw drivers allegedly break all traffic rules and often intimidate drivers of other vehicles and passengers as well.

Autorickshaws can be seen parked haphazardly at all major intersections in the city causing traffic snarls, but the traffic police seemed to have turned a blind eye.

Apart from the pollution issue, all autorickshaws in the city ply on a stage carriage basis with fixed fares from point to point, though they have permits only for contract carriage with meters like taxis.

This has been going on for years with the police as also the public vehicles department choosing to look the other way.

Autorickshaw unions, backed by CITU, have given route numbers and fixed fares on these routes, said Dutta. In some places, the same role has been taken by unions owing allegiance to other political parties, he said.