Bengaluru: The Karantaka State Road Transport Corporation has launched India's first bio-diesel passenger bus. The bus which will shuttle between Bengaluru and Chennai will entirely run on bio-fuel.
The department plans to increase 10 more in its fleet in the coming days. The department feels using bio-diesel will significantly help reduce emissions.
"We have launched this as pilot project. We want to increase more in our fleet in the coming days. There will be less emissions and it will contribute to a greener environment," state Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy said.
"In diesel vehicles you can see lot of smoke emanating. But when bio-diesel is used there isn't much spoke. It doesn't even affect the performance," a bus driver said.
The State Road Transport departments across the country collectively operate about 1.50 lakh buses and serve 7 crore passengers every day, three times higher than Indian Railways.
Nearly 300 crore litres of diesel is consumed every year.
Apart from less pollution, savings on fuel can turn around transport department finances.
"This is a pilot project but we are planning to extend it to 17,000 buses (17 depots). We have enough fuel for operations. This is the first time in the country that such an initiative has been taken," Rajender Kumar Kataria, Managing Director of KSRTC, said.
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