The humble Indian auto-rickshaw may soon be reborn in a smart, fuel-conserving avatar. The trigger: A Dutch environmentalist called Stef van Dongen, who took a few too many rides in rickety, smoke belching three-wheelers on a trip to India. Shaken and stirred, he made it his mission to build a better, cleaner model of the auto-rickshaw for Indians. And just two years after his "smoky" experience, students of four engineering institutes from The Netherlands, and three from India, are busy providing the final touches to their respective lpg or cng injected auto-rickshaw designs, as part of an international competition. The contest was envisioned by Dongen, who is also Director of Enviu, a Netherlands-based environment think-tank. Once produced commercially, these will be India's first true eco-friendly three-wheelers