We put this above all else, because this year will be our big battle in the war against air pollution. Calcutta High Court has banned all two-stroke autos from January 1. But the deadline has run into roadblocks galore, with politicians going into reverse gear and unions revving in revolt.

Two-stroke autos are supposed to go off the road from Thursday, four-stroke autos plying within municipal limits have been told to switch to clean fuel by March 31, and those in greater Calcutta will have to convert to LPG by December 31. If this is achieved, the city will breathe far more easy this year.

A drive to clean up the Hooghly is also on the cards. The environment department has said Puja idols must henceforth be lead-free.

Infrastructure

From waterlogging-free streets to fast-track corridors, flyovers to state-of-the-art facilities for fliers, new Metro Railway routes to market makeovers — 2009 promises to be a landmark year for development of infrastructure in Calcutta.

The long-awaited Tollygunge-New Garia section of Metro Railway — an 8.7km stretch with six stations — is likely to be opened in March. On the other side of town, work will begin on the East-West Metro project from Salt Lake to Howrah.

Flyovers will be the flavour of the construction season. The Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority has planned a flyover from the Beleghata intersection to Captain’s Bheri on the EM Bypass to end traffic snarls at the Chingrihata intersection. The 16-metre flyover will stand on a single pier and straddle the Rajarhat bridge.

Another flyover will connect Vivekananda Road to Howrah via Kalikrishna Tagore Street and Old Mint on Strand Road. One arm of the bridge will lead to Nimtalaghat Street. The Rs 153-crore project, a part of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, is to be completed in 18 months.

The AJC Bose Road flyover, the city’s longest, will finally get the two ramps that were sanctioned in 2005. Two box bridges will come up in AL and GE blocks of Salt Lake to relieve the pressure on JK Saha bridge and reduce the time it takes to reach Sector V.

The Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) has lined up a slew of projects, and set end-2009 as the deadline for the completion of ones that are underway. VIP Market will undergo a makeover along with CMC properties in Ballygunge, Belvedere Road, Behala and Mullickbazar. Four drainage pumping stations will be set up in Behala, which bears the brunt of monsoon flooding every year.

Six markets that were handed over to Bidhannagar Municipality by the urban development department in 2008 — in AB-AC, AE, CA, CK, EC and BD blocks — will be renovated.

Most of the upgrade planned under the Rs 2,100-crore modernisation project for Calcutta airport will be completed in 2009. The secondary runway will be extended by 360 metres and an Instrument Landing System installed there to take the pressure off the primary runway. A special inline baggage screening system will replace the X-ray machines.

Sector V will get its own water supply network. The beautification project undertaken by the tech hub’s administrative body, Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority, along with two companies, is expected to be completed this year.

An electronic surveillance system comprising 20 CCTVs will also be in place. The flyover being constructed to ease traffic flow at the Wipro crossing will be operational by March.