"We have almost been expecting the high court order and had already started discussions on how to implement it. But it will not be quite feasible to instal these gadgets in the old autorickshaws. Instead, helping owners buy new ones would be more practical," a senior transport department official said.

"We are in talks with banks and still studying the lowest interest rates on offer. We may end up getting more lucrative soft loans. But the subsidy rate will hover around the 10 grand figure," said a transport department official.

Incidentally, Writers' Buildings had been trying to implement the environment department notification for the past one year. Last year, at the instance of chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb had convened a meeting where the issue was discussed.

Three months ago, the matter was again raised by the West Bengal Pollution Control Board. Then, it was also revealed that two-stroke autos constitute 80% of the total 45,000 autos in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area and these pollute more than the fourstroke engines. But the Centre's test agencies have certified that LPG-fitted two-stroke engines can comply with the latest emission standards.

"The package sounds attractive. But to make it feasible, the government should eliminate unauthorised autos first," said S M Ghosh, environmentalist. To that, a senior transport official said: "We have already started raids against illegal autos."

But the takers of this package are not impressed. As Ghosh said: "The auto drivers are not interested in the package because they are not ready to take the loan burden."