Mumbai:
The green experiment on the city's public transport has failed. The BEST Undertaking that had embarked on an ambitious plan to run their buses on biodiesel has received a lukewarm response from suppliers. The undertaking has for the time being abandoned plans till a viable option is found.
A few years ago BEST decided to buy bio-diesel in bulk and use it to run its buses. They required 6,000 litres which could have given them extra earning of Rs1.36 crore per annum.Biodiesel is a cleaner-burning fuel, made from natural sources such as vegetable oils. It is biodegradable, nontoxic, and does not contain Sulphur. An experiment conducted at Vikhroli depot revealed that mixing of 10-20 percent biodiesel in regular fuel saved energy and reduced exhaust emission. And at the same time it does not affect the functioning of the engine.
More than half of the BEST's fleet in the city runs on CNG and officials said they would go for more CNG buses instead of now experimenting with any other green fuel. "We are keen to run buses on green fuel, but the problem is that it is not available. We even called for tenders, but the company was not able to provide us a regular and sustained supply. Hence we abandoned the project," BEST chairman Sanjay Potnis said.
The city's only cabbie who used to run his taxi on biodiesel, Sunil Sathe, has also abandoned it due to lack of availability and technical snags. "The experiment did succeed and I was able to run comfortably for about 3,000 km, but then there were technical snags and hence, I gave up its regular use," he told DNA.
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