<p>At an interactive workshop on ‘Green Energy - The Way for Sustainable Public Transport in India’ here, the minister said currently a fleet of 1,000 buses were plying in Mysore City on a trial basis using bio-fuel diesel blended with ethanol. <br /><br />“The project will be extended to all other cities including Bangalore. The Corporation is among the first to utilise ethanol in fuel using honge and jathropa oil,” Ashok said. He added that a new transport policy will be placed before the State Cabinet in two months to have public transport undertakings and private vehicles use bio and ethanol blended diesel.<br /><br />Green fuel outlet<br /><br />State bio-fuel task force chairman Y B Ramakrishna said a green fuel outlet and a bio-fuel park at Hassan are on the cards in the State, a first in the country. “A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed by the Government with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) to set up a green fuel outlet at Hassan in the next three to four months,” he said.<br /><br />The State plans to set up 20 such bio-diesel outlets in a year’s time, of which four bio-diesel plants will be set up by July. The task force has identified 70 institutions to aid bio-fuel research, apart from announcing the establishing of 746 seed centres in the next one year to cultivate and supply bio-fuel. <br /><br />“There is shortage of seeds needed to sustain bio-fuel availability. We now have 6,000 hectares being cultivated for bio-fuel crops. This is proposed to be increased to 2.76 lakh hectares by the next three years,” Ramakrishna said. Transport Department Principal Secretary M K Shankarlinge Gowda said introduction of compressed natural gas or CNG compliant buses is the need of the hour.<br /></p>
<p>At an interactive workshop on ‘Green Energy - The Way for Sustainable Public Transport in India’ here, the minister said currently a fleet of 1,000 buses were plying in Mysore City on a trial basis using bio-fuel diesel blended with ethanol. <br /><br />“The project will be extended to all other cities including Bangalore. The Corporation is among the first to utilise ethanol in fuel using honge and jathropa oil,” Ashok said. He added that a new transport policy will be placed before the State Cabinet in two months to have public transport undertakings and private vehicles use bio and ethanol blended diesel.<br /><br />Green fuel outlet<br /><br />State bio-fuel task force chairman Y B Ramakrishna said a green fuel outlet and a bio-fuel park at Hassan are on the cards in the State, a first in the country. “A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed by the Government with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) to set up a green fuel outlet at Hassan in the next three to four months,” he said.<br /><br />The State plans to set up 20 such bio-diesel outlets in a year’s time, of which four bio-diesel plants will be set up by July. The task force has identified 70 institutions to aid bio-fuel research, apart from announcing the establishing of 746 seed centres in the next one year to cultivate and supply bio-fuel. <br /><br />“There is shortage of seeds needed to sustain bio-fuel availability. We now have 6,000 hectares being cultivated for bio-fuel crops. This is proposed to be increased to 2.76 lakh hectares by the next three years,” Ramakrishna said. Transport Department Principal Secretary M K Shankarlinge Gowda said introduction of compressed natural gas or CNG compliant buses is the need of the hour.<br /></p>
